Patterns Practice in Chinese Medicine

Like its companion volume, Acupuncture Patterns & Practice, this book is a clinically oriented presentation of differential diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine.

This volume consists of eight series of case studies (40 in all), each focusing on a variety of patterns associated with a common clinical disorder: asthma, facial disorders, poor appetite, abdominal and epigastric pain, abnormal bowel movements, abnormal urination, constraint disorders, hypochondrial and intercostal pain.

Each case provides a systematic analysis of the patient's presentation, from the cause and site of the disorder to the underlying theory of the case. The pathogenesis, pattern of disease, treatment principle, and modalities of treatment (including both herbs and acupuncture) are described in illuminating detail. The authors, themselves both clinicians, then pose a number of questions that are likely to confront the practitioner.

More than a hundred charts organize and present in graphic form what is explained in the text. Each chapter concludes with a diagnostic overview or "tree" that summarizes the process of differential diagnosis for the patterns associated with that disorder.

Patterns & Practice in Chinese Medicine will be of particular value to the developing practitioner, as well as the student who is making the transition from the classroom to the clinic.

Li Xuemei is a medical doctor and specialist in both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Born in Beijing in 1956, she completed her studies in Chinese and Western medicine at the Beijing College of Chinese Medicine in 1982. She then worked as a physician at the teaching hospital associated with the college where she taught many Chinese and Western students. Dr. Li has lectured in China, Canada, Switizerland, Yugoslavia and Ireland, where she now lives and practices.

Zhao Jingyi was born in Beijing in 1954. He graduated in 1982 from the Beijing College of Chinese Medicine, where he now teaches. Dr. Zhao is a practicing physician, and teaches propaedeutics in Chinese medicine to Chinese and Western students. In addition to this book, he has published teaching materials for his students, and has conducted much clinical research in this field.