Objective To observe the effect of reinforcing qi

activating yang and inducing diuresis method on B-type natriuretic peptide（BNP）and survival rate of chronic heart failure patients.Methods The 151 cases of chronic heart failure of Ⅲ

Ⅳ

degree of cardiac function were randomized into treatment group and control group.The control group was treated with the standard plan for heart failure and the treatment group with standard plan plus the herbal formula based on the principle to reinforce qi

activate yang and induce diuresis.The follow-up was done once a month for totally 21 months to observe the survival rate and the level of BNP.Results The significant difference existed between the control and treatment group in BNP（P

<

0.01）.At the beginning the level of BNP of two groups was almost the same.In the fourth

ninth

and thirteenth month

the level of BNP of control group reached to the peak

higher than 1000ng/L.But in the treatment group

the level of BNP reached to the peak only in the fourth month and the peak value was lower than that of control group.The difference was significant in statistics（P

<

0.01）.The survival rate of treatment group was obviously higher than that of control group（P

<

0.05）

and the descending of survival rate of two groups was in accordance with the peak stage of BNP secretion.The first to fourth month was the peak stage of death of heart failure patients.Conclusion The standard plan plus the herbal formula to reinforce qi

activate yang and induce diuresis can decrease further the level of BNP and raise the survival rate.