III. Diagnosis and Treatment: Focusing on Five Internal Organs

III. Diagnosis and Treatment: Focusing on Five Internal Organs

Professor Pei believes that diagnosis should emphasize the relationship between the five internal organs, particularly focusing on the principles of treating deficiency-related conditions. For example, in lung-kidney type diagnoses, we distinguish between lung-kidney yang deficiency and lung-kidney yin deficiency, observing that the white blood cell count in the peripheral blood may differ slightly between the two types. Similarly, in lung-kidney liver type diagnoses, we differentiate between lung-kidney yin deficiency, liver-yin insufficiency, and lung-kidney yin deficiency, liver-wood excess, with the former often showing a decrease in white blood cell counts, while the latter frequently exhibits elevated levels of other blood parameters. In contrast, the latter often presents with symptoms similar to those seen in meningitis. Lung-kidney liver-spleen type diagnoses include lung-kidney deficiency, liver-wood overcoming earth, and lung-kidney liver deficiency, spleen-not-regulating-blood, with the former often presenting with hepatosplenomegaly, while the latter frequently results in chronic bleeding. When the five internal organs are involved in the same disease, we distinguish between five organ dysfunctions, real fire in the liver, five organ dysfunctions, cold deficiency in the heart, and five organ dysfunctions, yin deficiency, yang depression—all of which involve a combination of deficiency and excess. Among these, those with real fire in the liver often exhibit deficiency combined with excess, making liver-spleen enlargement difficult to resolve; those with cold deficiency in the heart often show low blood cell counts, typically occurring in the late stages of leukemia; and those with five organ dysfunctions, yin deficiency, yang depression, often present with low white blood cell and red blood cell counts.

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