According to traditional Chinese medicine, stagnant blood is a pathological product resulting from disturbance and stagnation of blood circulation, including abnormal flow of blood, or stagnated blood in meridians or viscera due to disturbed blood flow. In traditional Chinese medicine literature, it is variously termed as malignant blood, blood accumulation, lochioschesis etc.

Although diseases caused by stagnant blood are complicated, their clinical features have the following common aspects:

• Pain: usually a fixed stabbing pain which is aggravated by pressure or at night and is alleviated by day.
• Swelling: generally fixed. Local bruise in the body surface or hard and palpable abdominal mass inside the body cavity can occur.
• Bleeding: generally manifested as scanty in quantity with unsmooth flow, purplish in color with clots.
• Cyanosis: dark complexion, purplish lips and nails.
• Tongue manifestation: a dark purplish tongue with ecchymoses and petechiae etc.
• Pulse manifestation: choppy pulse or knotted and intermittent pulse.

Blood statis is also associated with many cardiovascular disorders, including angina, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, limb necrosis, etc.

The Chinese have been using natural herbal formulations for thousands of years to treat blood stasis, and one of which is Sanqi (P. notoginseng). Like ginseng, Sanqi (P. notoginseng) belongs to the same genus Panax of the family Araliaceaeof as ginseng. Not superingly, its active ingredients are also dammarane saponins, and PPT-type saponins take the abundance.

The anti-stasis function of Sanqi is confirmed by a study conducted on an animal model at a cellular level. In the study, dogs were subject to PPT treatment, and then were examined for the volume of blood flow to the brain, blood vessel resistance, mean arterial blood pressure, the time of platelet aggregation, and time of thrombosis in artificial artery-vein bypass.

The study results demonstrated a superior circulation-promoting and stasis-dissolving capacity of PPT as the volume of blood flow to the brain increased significantly, and blood vessels were dilated with resultant reduced resistance. In addition, the platelets were less prone to ADP-induced aggregation, and no thrombi were found in the artificial artery-vein bypass.

Therefore, it is concluded that PPT has a strong ability to promote circulation and dissolve blood stasis. The research results were published on Pharmacology and Clinics of Chinese Materia Medica 2008, 24(3).