In many years, western medicine has made tremendous progress and has become the dominating medical treatment worldwide. However, it has been increasingly recognized that Events   27  26  31  37  32  28  79  49  122  37  58  36  25  30  51  26  33  71  46  33  55  17  42  36  36  40  57  58  68  28  47  56  33  54  32  46  63  23  24  68  45  36  36  40  31  44  29  40  54  47  28  77  23  56  33  39  18  36  34  13  52  49  45  18  26  22  54  37  34  41  28  28  37  27  50  37  37  41  36  54  29  11  45  28  70  53  17  52  28  55  18   3678   22  24  21  22  40  24   153   3831   Total   30  30  35  40  35  30  90  56  127  41  62  40  30  40  55  31  36  76  48  35  60  18  48  38  38  46  62  64  80  30  50  60  42  58  35  48  66  25  28  74  50  42  40  43  32  50  31  42  60  50  32  85  24  60  34  45  22  38  37  16  62  58  50  20  31  24  58  40  40  44  33  30  40  30  56  39  40  46  40  60  30  12  50  30  78  56  19  56  30  55  20  4047   35  36  23  28  54  36  212   4259   Events   20  22  22  32  26  22  61  45  97  14  48  30  16  12  15  23  19  42  25  22  44  15  26  28  27  28  56  47  40  23  33  54  21  41  24  41  52  17  14  63  39  33  33  32  29  38  21  24  40  46  19  67  21  50  28  33  4  22  29  10  31  25  22  15  24  20  43  30  24  27  18  22  32  21  21  27  28  28  30  38  22  8  34  22  59  40  13  46  22  40  13   2770   17  16  14  12  29  16   104   2874   Total   39  28  33  40  35  27  90  56  121  22  62  40  30  20  30  28  26  76  30  30  60  18  39  38  38  40  62  64  60  30  40  60  41  54  32  48  64  25  20  78  50  40  40  42  32  50  30  42  52  50  30  85  24  60  34  42  10  30  36  16  61  38  26  20  31  24  58  40  34  44  29  30  40  30  30  37  40  32  40  50  26  12  50  30  80  56  18  56  30  50  20  3731   35  38  22  23 western medicine may sometimes fail to treat an illness, whereas such illness is reportedly improved by the so-called complementary medicine based on a different theory [110, 111] . Although conventional therapeutic approaches were used in HF, it remained a cardiovascular disease with an increasing hospitalization burden and an ongoing drain on health care expenditures [2] . TCM plays an important role in treating HF in China. SFI was a traditional Chinese Patent Medicine based on TCM theory, which was approved by the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration. In recent 10 years, it has been widely used for HF in many hospitals and clinics. However, few RCTs of SFI were reported in English journals, and it was difficult for western doctors to accept SFI as an alternative medicine. Although there were two systematic reviews about SFI for HR published in Chinese journal [112, 113] , only 16 and 8 trials were included in their study. Therefore, the present study aimed to systematically assess the efficacy and safety of SFI for HR. Data from the 97 RCTs demonstrated that SFI combined with conventional medication may be more effective on HF than conventional medication only. With improvement of cardiofunction of patients, based on NYHA Classification of Total (95% CI) Test for overall effect: Z = 7.14 (P < 0.00001) Mean   443  250  497  329  218  216  445  330   SD   66  112  74  64  17  18  65  18   Total   40  35  36  38  50  42  40  46   327   Mean   395  200  413  280  211  203  395  316   SD   64  90  67  52  15  16  63  17   Total   40  35  26  38  50  42  40 Clinical Status and Killip's Rating Standards, the effect rate of SFI group was, on average, 17 percent more than control group (RR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.21). Mortality data was another primary outcome. In eleven trials in which death was recorded, meta-analysis showed that mortality was significantly lower in SFI group than control group. This result was mainly contributed by subgroup of HF induced by myocardial infarction, for patients in this subgroup were more vulnerable.