Key points of syndrome differentiation for uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyoma, are the most common benign tumors of the female reproductive system, common in women aged 30 to 50, and rare in women under 20. Traditional Chinese medicine classifies them as "stone masses", "syndrome masses", and "uterine bleeding".

Western medicine believes that the cause of uterine fibroids is still unclear. Based on the fact that fibroids are more common in reproductive age and less common in adolescence, and shrink or disappear after menopause, it is suggested that their occurrence may be related to sex hormones. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that their occurrence is mostly caused by the disharmony of internal organs, imbalance of qi and blood, and the accumulation of phlegm, depression, and blood stasis in the uterus over time.

Traditional Chinese medicine is characterized by "differentiation of symptoms and treatment", emphasizing the analysis and establishment of "symptoms", and then prescribing medicines according to the "symptoms" for treatment. This disease should be differentiated on the basis of the identification of good and bad symptoms (the characteristic of TCM surgical diagnosis and treatment of diseases is the combination of disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation, first identify the disease, then the syndrome. Disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation are both processes of understanding the disease. Disease differentiation is to identify specific diseases, and both syndrome differentiation and syndrome differentiation are based on the patient's clinical manifestations. The difference is that one is to confirm the disease and the other is to establish the syndrome). In the early stage of the disease, blood stasis accumulates in the uterus and the lower abdomen is bloated, which is mostly a real syndrome; in the middle stage, the mass increases, blood stasis blocks the uterus, blood does not return to the menstruation, the menstrual volume is heavy, or the menstrual period is prolonged, which is mostly due to the excess of evil and the deficiency of the body; in the later stage, bleeding lasts for a long time, blood deficiency and weak qi, the patient's complexion is dull, and most of them are deficient.