| BackgroundMr.ZHU Liangchun,one of the national master of Chinese medicine(1917 to 2015),was apprenticed to Mr.Ma Huiqing,from a long line of doctors in the town of Menghe,in his early years;then studied at the Suzhou Technical School of Traditional Chinese Medicine;and finally became an apprentice of Zhang Cigong,a famous doctor in Shanghai.Professor ZHU was good at treating rheumatic immune diseases including ankylosing spondylitis(AS),AS characterized as common occurrence in young adults,high disability rate,the lack of effective treatment options,serious damage on the ability to work of young and middle-aged labor force,and causing a great burden to the community and the family.In view of these facts,it is of great significance for obtaining the academic characteristics of Professor ZHU Liangchun and improving clinical efficacy to discuss his academic experiences on AS treatment in term of the eight extra meridians theory.Purpose:To summarize and conclude the academic thought of Professor ZHU Liangchun,a national master of Chinese medicine,on AS treatment in term of the eight extra meridians theory.Methods:The academic thoughts of Professor ZHU on AS treatment was discussed and concluded in view of the following four aspects.(1)Literature research:this part was further divided into ancient and modern literature research.Ancient literature research discussed the exposition and academic thoughts of the physicians through ages on AS,and the historical evolution of eight extra meridians.Modern literature research was preformed on the basis of AS study on treatment with Traditional Chinese Medicine and western medicine.(2)Clinical study:a retrospective cohort study was conducted on the medical records of 625 clinics visits from a total of 95 AS patients treated by Professor ZHU Liangchun personally in Nantong Liangchun Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine from August 1993 to August 2011.The core-prescription and common herb pairs was analyzed and the law of clinical diagnosis and treatment were summarized by data mining methods including descriptive statistics,correlation analysis and association rules.’(3)Theoretical study:we concluded the academic thoughts of Professor ZHU on AS treatment based on the eight extra meridians theory,and analyzed his three innovated opinions distinct from the previous theories on the basis of his writings from deep study on classics and thorough inquiry into books of physicians over the ages.(4)The interviews of Professor ZHU about AS treatment were summarized in an honest-to_goodness patterns according to the recording and the video material.Results:(1)Professor ZHU creatively classified AS into the category of "Shen Bi" and"Wan Bi".Also,he summarized the basic pathogenesis of AS as follows:deficiency in origin characterized as deficiency of kidney and Du meridian,and excess pathogen characterized as obstruction of collateral vessel and bone with wind,cold,dampness,hot,turbid phlegm,blood stasis which remained at the joint;and in turn proposed the principle of internal and external treatment with reinforcing Qi as well as tonifying kidney and strengthening Du meridian as main part supplemented by alleviating impediment and dredging collateral.(2)The retrospective study based on 95 patients’ AS medical records showed that the clinical symptoms mainly manifested as pain and stiffness most occurred on the axis of body.In these records,a total of 191 kinds of herbs from 18 classifications were prescribed for 12835 times.The most common used Chinese medicine were tonic medicines,followed by wind-damp-dispelling medicine and blood-activating and stasis-resolving medicine.These results suggested that the treatment methods of "reinforcing healthy qi","eliminating pathogen" and " blood-activating and stasis-resolving" were the key part of AS treatment.The core-prescription detected from all data included Rhizoma Dioscoreae Nipponicae,Suberect Spatholobus Stem,Bombyx Batryticatus,Lumbricus,Eupolyphaga Seu Steleophaga,Radix Angelicae Sinensis,Zaocys and Radix Clematidis.The commonly used herb pairs included Radix Rehmanniae Recens-Prepared Radix Rehmanniae Recens,Radix Paeoniae Rubra-Radix Paeoniae Alba,prepared Radix Aconiti-Ramulus Cinnamomi,Rhizoma Drynariae-Fructus Psoraleae,and Fructus Lycii-Herba Epimedii.(3)With the systematical summary of Professor ZHU’ inheritance and innovation about AS treatment based on eight extra meridians theory,it was noted that,professor ZHU had deeply studied the eight extra meridians theory described in TCM Classics;developed ancient meaning and converged it with new knowledge;as well as extended the theory about the sites of insect drugs action to include eight extra meridians.Also,Professor ZHU found Rhizoma Dioscoreae Nipponicae acted as the first key medicine in treatment of tonifying kidney and strengthening Du meridian in clinical;and proposed a principle of internal treatment with tonifying kidney and strengthening Du meridian combined with external treatment with alleviating impediment and dredging collateral for the treatment of difficult diseases including obstinate arthralgia,which enriched the academic content of the eight extra meridians theory.Conlusions:(1)The eight extra meridians theory can serve as an effective theory in treatment of AS.(2)The core pathogenesis of AS is deficiency in kidney and Du meridian,obstruction of collateral vessel.Thus,the principle of treatment should be tonifying kidney,strengthening Du meridian,alleviating impediment and dredging collateral.(3)Rhizoma Dioscoreae Nipponicae can be used as sovereign drug when tonifying kidney and strengthening Du meridian,insect drugs can be effective to alleviate impediment and dredge collateral.(4)We should thoroughly study the academic thoughts of Professor ZHU on AS treatment based on the eight extra meridians theory,and learn his spirit of original innovation. |
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