On March 28, Shijiazhuang hosted a grand event in the field of traditional Chinese medicine—the 22nd International Congress on Luobing Theory.
The conference, themed “Inheritance, Openness, Innovation, and Integration”, brought together over ten academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, including Liu Depei, Zhang Boli, Zhang Yun, Wu Yiling, and Cong Bin, as well as leading experts and industry elites from around the world. They together witnessed the official release of LuoXue Integration, a monumental academic work embodying over four decades of dedication by Academician Wu Yiling and his team. The conference also delved into the unique value of the theory of collateral diseases in preventing and treating major diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and tumors.
As the academic achievement of Academician Wu Yiling’s lifelong research, the LuoXue Integration consists of 7 million characters across four volumes, that is, Collateral Disease Theory, Clinical Practice of Collateral Disease, Collateral-Regulating Formulas and Medicinals, and Collateral-Regulating Health Preservation. It also includes a chronicle of key milestones in collateral disease research.
The book systematically compiles the academic essence of collateral diseases with a history of more than 2000 years in the development of Chinese medicine, integrating significant research achievements from the past four decades. It aims to preserve and promote academic achievements that represent the cutting edge of contemporary research on meridian-related diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, thereby expanding their clinical applications and ensuring that research findings in critical disease areas, such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and respiratory diseases, benefit a greater number of patients.
At the opening ceremony of the conference, Academician Wu Yiling personally presented this academic series to representatives from museums, archives, universities, and academic societies, marking the official introduction of the LuoXue Integration into higher education institutions and providing a vital resource for training the next generation of TCM professionals.
At the main forum of the conference, Academician Wu Yiling and Professor Jia Zhenhua from the Hebei Institute of Collateral Disease Innovation and Medicine delivered academic reports titled Construction and Innovative Transformation of TCM Collateral Disease Theory and Systematic Research on Visceral Collateral Diseases: Guiding Respiratory Disease Prevention and Treatment with Lung Collateral Disease Theory, respectively. They engaged in an in-depth discussion of the significant role of collateral-regulating drugs in the prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and other conditions.
The conference also released the latest research findings from the “Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study on the Effects of Tongxinluo Capsules on Coronary Atherosclerotic Plaques” led by Academician Zhang Yun of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The study demonstrated that, when used in combination with modern standard treatments such as statins, Tongxinluo Capsules significantly increased the fibrous cap thickness of coronary vulnerable plaques, reduced the lipid arc of the plaques, and alleviated symptoms of angina pectoris in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome. This provides an effective therapeutic strategy for stabilizing coronary plaques in clinical practice.
The findings were published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy (STTT) and have received high praise from the academic community both domestically and internationally, marking an important milestone for traditional Chinese medicine to go global.
The conference also featured specialized sessions covering coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, heart failure, cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory, urinary, and oncology fields. Many academicians and medical experts present at the conference had an in-depth discussion on how the theory of collateral diseases can serve public health across disease fields, jointly exploring new paths for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine.
The successful holding of the 22nd International Congress on Luobing Theory fully demonstrates the formidable expertise and prolific achievements of Chinese experts and scholars in this field, while building a robust platform for in-depth dialogue and cooperation among scholars of traditional Chinese medicine worldwide.
With the release of the LuoXue Integration and the successful conclusion of the conference, the research on collateral diseases will continue to uphold the spirit of “preserving the essence while innovating” to further propel traditional Chinese medicine—a treasure of the Chinese nation—onto the global stage, thus contributing more “Chinese wisdom” and “Chinese solutions” to building a global community of health for all.
The conference also announced that the overseas forum of the 22nd International Congress on Luobing Theory will be held in Singapore in the fall of 2026, which will further advance the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine.