Clinical Trial of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

This open label clinical study will be conducted in School of Chinese Medicine Clinics at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) to preliminarily determine whether treatment with the herbal formula PROLUNG could improve Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) symptoms, respiratory function and the quality of life of patients with IPF compared with pretreatment baseline. We propose to recruit 30 participants. The diagnosis and screening will be conducted by respiratory physicians. Those who meet the inclusion criteria will be referred by the expert to the PI. The PI will prescribe the formula in granule form to the participants in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Clinics as usual. Patients will receive 6 months of the herbal treatment and 7 visits. Annual rate of change in forced expiratory vital capacity (FVC) will serve the primary outcome. The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) will be used to additionally assess respiratory functions. A standard questionnaire will be administered to obtain information on age, sex, marital status, education, social class, smoking behaviour and respiratory diseases. Other outcome measures include the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment instrument (WHOQOLBREF) by each participant after enrollment.