Antiplatelet drugs are a cornerstone of the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, such coronary artery disease and ischaemic cerebrovascular disease. Increasing antiplatelet effects, reducing gastric mucosal injury, and reducing bleeding are key problems for cardio-cerebrovascular disease therapy. In clinical practice, many patients using antiplatelet agents have also been prescribed herbal medicine with additive antiplatelet effects, including Salvia miltiorrhiza, Angelica sinensis, and Panax notoginseng. The application of the combination of these methods in antiplatelet therapy has been reported to alleviate antiplatelet drug resistance but has also been associated with increased risk of bleeding.

Currently available randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have indicated that herbal medicine might be used as a complementary and alternative approach to the primary and secondary prevention of cardio-cerebrovascular disease, which might be effective in enhancing antiplatelet effects or in reducing cardio-cerebrovascular events, but few trials, with small sample sizes and diverse outcomes, have focused on combined antiplatelet therapy. The pharmaceutical effects, in vivo and in vitro, of herbal medicine, and especially the interaction mechanisms of the combined application of herbal medicine and antiplatelet agents are still seldom studied.

This Special Issue aims to create an interdisciplinary platform involving pharmacodynamics, pharmacology, molecular biology, and evidence-based clinical medicine to discuss the clinical efficacy, safety, and interaction mechanisms of the combined application of herbal medicine and western medicine on antiplatelet therapy in the treatment of cardio-cerebrovascular disease. Articles published in this Special Issue should stimulate medical professionals to continue making efforts to improve the rationality, efficacy, and safety of the combined application of herbal and western medicine and to avoid inappropriate combined use in clinical practice.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Multicentre, large-scale RCTs, with long-term hard endpoints and safety evaluation, of herbal medicine and western medicine on antiplatelet therapy in preventing and treating cardio-cerebrovascular diseases
• Multicentre, large-scale RCTs with long-term follow-up clinical data focused on the evaluation of the interaction mechanisms of herbal and western medicine on antiplatelet therapy, including herbs, compounds isolated from herbal medicine, compound prescriptions, and injections
• Systematic reviews or meta-analyses of the combined application of herbal and western medicine on antiplatelet therapy in preventing and treating cardio-cerebrovascular diseases
• Experimental research to elucidate the interaction mechanisms of herbal and western medicine on antiplatelet therapy in preventing and treating cardio-cerebrovascular diseases