Chronic Aplastic Anemia Therapy

Chronic aplastic anemia (CAA) is a rare condition where stem cells are damaged or destroyed and cannot produce blood cells of any type. The condition can be long or short-term. Some of the causes include: ^{108, 109}

• Chemotherapy and other treatment drugs
• Environmental toxins
• Radiation
• Viral infections

Although rare, CAA is a potentially fatal disease. Typical symptoms include fatigue, infections, abnormal bleeding, dizziness, and a rapid pulse. ^{108, 109}

How Can Astragalus Help People With CAA?

Results from a 4-month clinical trial conducted with 60 CAA patients suggest that astragalus might be an effective treatment. In it, the patients were randomly assigned to two groups of 30. Both were given a steroid intravenously (to boost production of red blood cells), and the trial group was also given astragalus by IV injection once a day. ¹⁰⁹

Although both groups had improved blood cell counts, the trial group had significantly better outcomes, including: ¹⁰⁹

• Higher levels of white blood cells, reticular cells, and platelets
• Lower levels of regulatory proteins that inhibit blood cell production

A meta-analysis of controlled clinical studies published in 2015 also concluded that astragalus may be a safe and effective treatment for chronic aplastic anemia. Although researchers caution that the clinical studies thus far are limited by study size and quality of study design, there is enough evidence to warrant further in-depth study of astragalus for this disease. ¹⁸