Case Study of Acute Cholecystitis, September 12, 1978

Case Study of Acute Cholecystitis, September 12, 1978

Earlier in my career, I treated Mr. Li, the director of the Industrial Bureau in the urban district, using Xiaoyao San combined with Sanhuang Paishi, plus Jinqiancao, Yujin, and Yinchen, which proved effective. This September, I treated another patient, Mr. Chen, first trying my father's compound Paishi Tang, which had limited effect, then switching to Xiaoyao San combined with Sanhuang Paishi, adding Jinqiancao, Huzhang, and Yujin. This shows that for cholecystitis patients, Xiaoyao San is indeed an effective formula. I recall the summer of 1963, when my grandmother suffered from acute gastric and liver pain. My father believed that her condition was often alleviated by Xiaoyao San, and suspected it might not be a simple gastric ulcer. At the time, I had just graduated from school and was focused on memorizing textbook doctrines, so I diagnosed her condition as "perforated gastric ulcer." I was working at Tian Shui Hospital then, and the hospital director, Mr. Zhang, was impressed by my medical theory and fully trusted my diagnosis, so he performed a laparotomy. Upon opening the abdomen, he found the gallbladder swollen like a giant fist, congested and edematous, with no adhesions around the edema. He revised the diagnosis to "acute attack of chronic cholecystitis." Due to my grandmother's advanced age and frailty, a gallbladder fistula was created, and everything went well afterward. The abdominal pain never recurred, and in the winter of 1972, she passed away from diarrhea. This case demonstrates that Xiaoyao San is indeed highly effective for cholecystitis.