梁秉中，何景文，陈宝德，陸乃明，卢泳文，郭海蒂，黄丽仪，郑景辉

    (1.香港中文大学中医中药研究所;2.香港政府卫生署社會衞生科;3.香港中文大学医学院 内科及药物治疗系皮肤病研究中心;4.香港威尔斯亲王医院足病治疗科;5.香港中文大学公共卫生学院)

    When a chronic ulcer fails to heal，the longer it exists，the more difficulty of the treatment would be expected.Causes of the failure to heal include deformities in the foot，loss of sensation，and bacterial infections.Known situations of non-healing ulcers of long durations thus occurs among elderly patients suffering from leprosy，diabetes and venous stasis.Such patients usually have received surgery including skin grafting and plastic repair，yet failed to achieve healing.

    We have previously reported the favorable results of chronic ulcer treatment using a herbal formula of Chinese Medicine in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes and persistent foot ulcers[1-2].With limited surgical interventions such as limited toe amputations and ulcer debridement，we managed to avoid major amputation in 80% of patientsoriginally scheduled for such intervention unless the ulcer was healed.

    Basing on this good experience，we have worked out in the laboratory the biological activities of the herbs on the promotion of tissue healing.The herbs mainly act on the control of inflammation and promotion of granulation formation through stimulation of fibroblast proliferation[3-4]. ......