The traditional Chinese medicine classic Huangdi Neijing says:“When there are cardiopulmonary lesions

the nose is inhibited”

of which most annotations cared about the correlation between the nose and lungs

rather than between the nose and heart.However

from literature research and clinical practice

it is necessary to elucidate the close physiological and pathological correlation between the heart and nose.Physiologically

the correlation between the heart and nose are actually extentions of the correlation between the heart and lung.If heart qi is sufficient

the nose is alert.Pathologically

yang deficiency gives rise to phlegm retention and qi stagnation in the chest;if heart vessels are blocked

then the nosal collaterals would be blocked.Clinically

whether the nose is inhibited or not helps to form a first impression about the cardiac function.What’s more

when dealing with nasal congestion

one should take the heart into considertation.It’s a good example to show Huangdi Neijing’s guidance on TCM clinical practice. Abstract