Warm Diseases: A Clinical Guide

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The understanding and treatment of infectious and other externally-contracted diseases has been a central concern of Chinese medicine for millennia. Especially during the past few centuries, the concepts and treatment approaches of the warm disease school have percolated throughout Chinese medical thought. Modern practitioners apply them in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of serious illnesses, including many which are common in the West, such as auto-immune disorders.

Warm Diseases: A Clinical Guide provides an in-depth, clinically oriented approach to this important subject. The introductory chapters tell the compelling story of how traditional Chinese physicians, primarily from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, developed the theories and concepts of warm disease in response to the health crises of their time, which included a number of epidemics. The evolution of their approach to etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, discussed in this volume, demonstrates how traditional medicine has evolved to meet contemporary needs.

The second part of the book describes the various types of warm disease from a clinical perspective. Here the author discusses the manifestations, pathogenesis, treatment principles, and formulas for each type. Case histories show how theory is actually applied in the clinic. A variety of approaches is presented, which avoids the tendency to portray traditional Chinese medicine as an unchanging, monolithic entity. Over time, these differences have led to much creative foment and improvement in the efficacy of treatment. The author also addresses aspects of dosage and preparation that are generally omitted from standard textbooks. This part of the book will be particularly welcome to practitioners, who will find it useful in the clinic.

Rounding out the volume is an extensive bibliography of original source materials, supplemental case histories and materia medica, and detailed indexes which provide access to every aspect of this subject.

Reader Reviews:

With this volume, Dr. G. Liu brings together a wealth of clinical experience and understanding. His approach to an important, yet often under-exlpored subject is cohesive, well integrated and quite accessible to its readers, and as such, fills a long empty gap in the English language volumes on Traditional Chinese Medicine.

As the title states, this is truly a "clinical guide". It not only provides a thorough discussion of the history and concept (including etiology, differentiation, and treatment)of "warm diseases", but goes on to bring the material to life with numerous clinical examples. The examples provide anchors for the various aspects of warm diseases that each represents, and then take the reader through the process of developing a rational treatment approach based on the understanding of that particular condition.

Dr. Liu's extensive knowledge of Chinese Herbal Medicine is also quite evident as he discusses the various herbal approaches to treatment of different warm diseases. Despite the complexity of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Dr. Liu presents this information in a style which is, at the same time, informative and accessible to the reader. He provides the reader with information on both individual herbs, as well as specific formulas. Thus, he helps the reader on the path to working to understand and adjust formulas, based on the specific, individual needs of their patients.

His integration of theory, and diagnostic understanding, with treatment implementation makes this volume invaluable to both students and practioners alike. I strongly recommend this as a book to keep on your shelf, as it is one to which you will frequently return. I believe that we owe Dr. Liu a debt of gratitude for sharing himself, his knowledge, and his clinical experiences with us in his gift of "Warm Diseases: A Clinical Guide".Liu's Warm Diseases, A Clinical Guide is exactly that. Its detailed, systematic presentation takes the reader through the historical development, theory, and practical application of warm diseases theory. Liu's style is consistently logical and detail-oriented, without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary information. Liu introduces and illustrates the use of the major herbal prescriptions of the warm disease school through representative case histories, and he explains how to modify the prescriptions appropriately based on the symptoms and pattern variations of the individual patient.

Liu includes in his discussions the concepts of "lurking" or "latent" warm diseases, an important area of theory regarding infectious diseases which become lodged in the interior, sometimes chronically, without manifestations or with different manifestations from the more typical acute warm diseases. Liu's book is so far the best source of information on this subject in English.

The appendices include a supplemental materia medica, most of whose entries will be already be known to the well-informed practitioner, and additional case studies.

Warm Diseases, A Clinical Guide would make an excellent classroom textbook, and it is certainly well worth reading for professionals who were trained in the United States, where warm diseases theory is still relatively unknown.
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