Case Records as Medical Stories: A Song-dynasty Doctor’s Narration of His Own Medicine-Xu Shuwei (1080-1154)

The key point in studying or teaching the history of Chinese medicine is on the doctrines underlying it and on its perception of the body,physiology,pathology,and its treatment.Namely,there is often a tendency to focus on reading and analysing the classical canons and therapy-related texts including formularies and materia medica collections.However,focusing on these sources provides us with a one-sided presentation of Chinese medicine.These primary sources lack the clinical down-to-earth know-how that encompasses medical treatment,which are represented,for instance,in the clinical rounds of modern medical schools.Our traditional focus on the medical canons and formularies provides almost no clinical knowledge,leaving us with a one-sided narrative that ignores how medicine and healing are actually practiced in the field.This paper focuses on the latter aspect of medicine from a historical perspective.Using written and visual sources dating to the Song dynasty,clinical encounters between doctors and patients including their families are depicted based on case records recorded by a physician,members of the patient’s family,and bystanders.This array of case records or case stories will enable us to narrate the interaction between physicians and patients both from the clinical perspective and from the social interaction.This paper will also discuss visual depictions of the medical encounter to provide another perspective for narrating medicine during the Song dynasty.Medical case records and paintings depicting medical encounters are exemplary of the potential of Chinese primary sources for narrative medicine.

Roles of Case Studies and Case Reports in US East Asian Medicine:A Narrative-Medicine Perspective

Recorded stories of the clinical encounter stretch back to ancient times.Throughout their history,these narratives have been called by different names,reflecting changes in format,function,and audience.This paper examines and explains the differences in two related forms of clinical writing as practiced by East Asian Medicine clinicians in the United States today-the case study and the case report.Each has its strengths and weaknesses;each is suited to different roles.The case study is ideal for education and the practice of narrative medicine,whereas the case report has played a vital role in propelling East Asian Medicine into the arena of modern scientific research.

Misdiagnosis Features of Ancient Clinical Records Based on Apriori Algorithm

Objective:To analyze misdiagnosis features in clinical cases of“Classified Medical Cases of Famous Physicians”and“Supplement to Classified Case Records of Celebrated Physicians.”Materials and Methods:Two hundred and five ancient misdiagnosed cases were analyzed in aspects of locations(exterior-interior type,qi-blood type and Zang‑Fu organs type)and patterns(heat-cold type and deficiency-excess type)by Apriori Algorithm Method.Results:The main types of misdiagnosis in those medical casesare as follows::Zang‑Fu location misjudgment,misjudging the interior as the exterior,misjudging deficiency pattern as excess pattern,and misjudging cold pattern as heat pattern.Among them,the most outstanding type is the misjudgment of deficiency–cold pattern as excess–heat pattern.Conclusions:(1)Accurate judgment of location and differentiation of deficiency and excess patterns are the key points in diagnosing the diseases correctly.The confusion of true deficiency–cold and pseudo‑excess–heat pattern should be taken seriously.(2)Data mining on ancient clinical cases offers a new methodology for assisting clinical diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine.