Flexible Analysis of Pathogenesis in Syndrome Differentiation——Prof. Zhou Zhong-ying's Talk about Syndrome Differentiation

The basic requirement in syndrome differentiation is to analyze pathogenesis, including the analysis of the following: cause, location, pathological factor (the secondary cause), Zang Fu pathogenesis, eight principles, acute or chronic case, superficiality or origin, tendency of transformation, and prognosis. The core of pathogenesis analysis is the analysis of pathological factor. This paper expounds the way to analyze cause, pathological factor and Zang Fu pathogenesis. Only by flexible application of the principles, can one masters the essence of syndrome differentiation. Prof. Zhou Zhongying has summed up the methods of syndrome differentiation and believes that there are five specific features. If one can keep the five features in mind, he will be able to analyze pathogenesis flexibly. The five features are peculiarity, variability, crossing, complication, and atypical cases (initial cases, transitional cases, insidious cases, and light cases). The paper later discusses the relation between syndrome standardization and flexible syndrome analysis. The clinical significance of the theory six interior pathogens in the diagnosis and treatment of internal injuries is also discussed.