TCM treatment is achieved by adjusting the balance of the human body, which is very different from modern medical theory, so the application of TCM methods to treat neurosurgical diseases cannot leave the basic theory of TCM. Chinese medicine diagnosis, the main four methods of hope, smell, ask, cut, referred to as the “four diagnosis”. The human body is an organic whole, local lesions can affect the whole body; internal lesions can be reflected from all aspects of the five senses, limbs and body surface. Therefore, through the four diagnostic methods of looking, smelling, asking and cutting, and examining the symptoms of disease manifested in various aspects, we can understand the cause, nature and the internal connection of the disease, thus providing the basis for further diagnosis and treatment. Zhao Xinjun, Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Discriminatory treatment is the basic principle of Chinese medicine in understanding and treating diseases. “Discriminatory treatment” means to take the information, symptoms and signs collected from the four clinics, analyze and synthesize them, identify the cause, nature and location of the disease, as well as the relationship between evil and positive, and generalize and judge them as a certain kind of evidence. Treatment is also called “treatment application”, which means that the corresponding treatment method is determined according to the results of evidence identification. Identification is the premise and basis for deciding the treatment, and treatment is the means and method for treating the disease. The process of identification and treatment is the process of understanding the disease and solving it. It is the embodiment of the combination of theory and practice, the concrete application of theory, method, prescription and medicine in clinical practice, and the basic principle guiding the clinical practice of Chinese medicine.
With the progress of science and technology, the way people understand the world and the human body has developed by leaps and bounds. For example, people can use the Hubble telescope to observe the universe invisible to the naked eye, and use the “Jiaolong” manned submersible to reach the deep sea below 5,000 meters. Nowadays, doctors can see images invisible to the naked eye with the help of CT, magnetic resonance, ultrasound and other instruments, and understand microscopic changes in the human body through various laboratory tests, which have greatly enriched the ways and methods of Chinese medicine diagnosis.
First of all, the holistic view of TCM can be implanted into the diagnosis and treatment process of neurosurgical diseases. The so-called holistic view has two meanings: firstly, the human body is an organic unity; secondly, the human body has unity with nature. In the diagnostic process, while the main symptoms and signs are found and auxiliary examinations are conducted to make the western diagnosis, the formation of local lesions can be considered whether they are related to the imbalance of the yin and yang of the human body, the five internal organs and the six internal organs, for example, whether the patient with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage has liver and kidney yin deficiency, liver fire inflammation, spleen deficiency, liver wind and so on. The treatment process can then be given through different types of evidence to nourish the liver and kidney, clear liver fire, nourish spleen deficiency, dissolve phlegm and dispel liver wind.
Secondly, when applying TCM to treat neurosurgical diseases, we insist on treating with evidence, such as brain tumor patients, TCM does not differentiate between meningioma and glioma, but “sees the tumor and does not treat it”, instead of directly killing the tumor cells, it treats with evidence and achieves the treatment goal by adjusting the balance of the body. It is like a mushroom growing on a dark and damp rotten wood, if you pick it down, it will still grow, but if you put it on the desert, will it still grow?