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..... TCM Classification on sydromes　

Chronic Hepatitis –
Classification according to Traditional Chinese Medicine Method
(慢性肝炎中醫分型)

For thousands of years, the “Concept of Entirety”[1] has been adopted in the treatment of diseases in traditional Chinese medicine (“TCM”). It is appropriate to take this concept as the basis for explaining the onset of diseases: from the development of chronic hepatitis to the various symptoms at different hepatitis stages, to the damages of the body organs caused by hepatitis viruses and simultaneously the characteristics of various internal organs.

As an introduction, we shall classify the types of chronic hepatitis in accordance with the viewpoint of the traditional Chinese medicine. Chronic hepatitis can be classified into six syndromes (six Xin), namely:

01 The Stagnation of the liver qi (vital energy) and lung-dryness form

02 The Wetness-heat evaporation form

03 The Deficiency of both qi (vital energy) and the blood form

04 The Blood stasis in the meridians and collaterals form

05 The Exuberance of yang [2] (vital function) of the liver

06 The Deficiency of liver and kidney

However, this way of classification is only for the sake of convenience. Actually, a patient may have different symptoms or may have more than two types of classification at the same time. In fact, there is no distinct boundary among the five types of classification. In the course of treatment, the method of effecting a permanent cure is absolutely the same no matter which syndromes of classification.

Conclusion

(translated by QC in February 2002)

Footnotes

[1] an organic conception of the human body, viewing its various parts as forming an organic whole.

[2] The male or positive principle, the active or functional aspect of an effective position, e.g. of the human body as a whole or an individual organ.

[3] The female or negative principle, the structive or material aspect of an effective position, e.g. of the human body as a whole or an individual organ. The yin and yang are two fundamental principles or forces in the universe, ever opposing and complementing each other, the ceaseless motion of which gives rise to all the changes in the world. It is an ancient philosophical concept used in traditional Chinese medicine to refer to various antitheses in anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment.

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