Bloodletting therapy in 3000

China's traditional Chinese medicine to

- Wang Hongcai China academy of traditional Chinese medicine

Chinese people are familiar with bloodletting therapy, because it is part of the acupuncture and moxibustion. In fact, bloodletting therapy is part of the world of medicine. From a historical point of view, no matter how advanced the modern medicine, medical human is basically a history of bloodletting therapy; Whatever where a region of medicine, have a common origin, bloodletting.

Bloodletting therapy of ancient civilizations

Blood vessels like rivers on the earth, where the river flows through gave birth to the civilization and also the origin of the medicine. Around 3500 BC, bloodletting therapy has also appeared in the \"big\" river civilization.

Style in ancient Egypt the doctor's \"st\" symbolic words, is refers to treating people with arrows of thing to bleed content. On the plains of Mesopotamia is believed that blood can remove possessed of the devil. Indian medicine thinks, the person's health is by air, bravery, phlegm to maintain the balance between the three kinds of body fluids, imbalance between them will lead to the disorder of blood, the blood was considered to be an effective method. In addition to use tool to bleed, indians also inherited the leeches law of the people of Egypt and Syria. Bloodletting therapy from the Nile river and the Tigris river flow to the ancient Greece and Rome, gradually developed into a fashion of medicine.

Who is the father of bloodletting therapy

If you want to trace the father of the modern western medicine, Hippocrates is undoubtedly the most resounding name. In his view, the disease is not a local phenomenon, but the whole body blood, mucus, black bile and yellow bile in four fluid balance disorder, through such means as bloodletting, push diarrhea and regulate diet can help the body's natural healing. The western \"the father of medicine\" became the ancestor of bloodletting therapy.

Bloodletting therapy of popular in the west is related to another great physician galen, his achievements in anatomy, physiology, medicine, no one can than before in the 16th century. Galen promoting bloodletting therapy, such as \"cure\" book he illustrates the view that bloodletting therapy can be applied to almost any kind of disease, including bleeding and weak people. Bloodletting therapy is not only a treatment of gout, arthritis, dizziness, epilepsy, depression, optimization of eye disease, such as a serious illness therapy, but also the main means of preventing disease. Galen is very keen to bleed, under certain circumstances, he recommended blood to put two times a day.

Bloodletting therapy the barber into a surgeon

In 1163, Pope Alexander iii, let the bloodletting therapy into folk, barber shop is the main place for bloodletting therapy. The barber knife and heat of bloodletting, wrote a western medicine, surgery, and interesting development comes from the barber's. One of the iconic figure is a 16th century French barber Ambroise Pare said, he would later be known as the \"father\" of the surgeon.

Hairdressers bleed for the development of a set of operating procedures and tools, bloodletting therapy double-point tool called \"the Lancet\", a well-known British medical journal \"Lancet\" (Lancet) is two-edged blade from bleeding. Barbershop in use today's column sign of the red and blue and white stripes, red for arterial blood flow, blue for venous blood flow, and white for hemostasis with bandages, this is a vivid advertisement bloodletting therapy.

Doubt the bloodletting therapy

As time goes on, bloodletting therapy in the cause of the accident, gradually to the question.

On December 12, 1799, 1799, the first American President, George Washington riding patrol plantation back, feel sore throat, third day became seriously ill, and difficulty breathing. Washington believes bloodletting, his personal doctor also convinced that the bloodletting role, continuous several times after the bloodletting, Washington stopped breathing.

To Washington bloodletting physicians is the \"father of medicine\" Benjamin rui division (Benjamin Rush) students. Benjamin founded the medical education system in the United States, at that time, three-quarters of American doctors are his students. Due to the boom in Philadelphia and the west Indies of the slave trade, frequented the port city of yellow fever in the 18th century, popular in 1794 and 1797, Philadelphia, yellow fever, let bloodletting physicians Benjamin had a lawsuit. At that time, every day there are hundreds of people queued up for Benjamin implementation of bloodletting therapy for them. A man named William Cobbett British journalist to this question, and track the incident, found that mortality is higher in the patients treated Benjamin, he published an article said that the doctor and his students made outstanding contribution to the decrease of the human population. Benjamin's authority is being questioned, he will be the reporter to court, the legal Cobbett imposed high ticket, but Benjamin is still in the fight against infectious diseases.

After a man named Alexander Hamilton, a British doctor, to take a more scientific study of bloodletting therapy. Average 366 sick soldiers were divided into 3 groups, a group of patients receiving bloodletting therapy, the other two groups treated with other methods, the same basic set of conditions. Result: no bleeding in the two groups respectively in 2 cases and 4 patients died, while receiving bloodletting therapy group of 35 cases died.

In the early 19th century French doctor issued a statement, bloodletting therapy for the treatment of pneumonia and febrile illness completely ineffective. In addition, Pierre. Louis (Pierre Louis) also published he spent seven years of nearly 2000 patients clinical observation, found that bloodletting therapy significantly increased the mortality rate of patients. At this point, people start to conviction of bloodletting therapy, but in the 19th century bloodletting therapy is still popular, and its height. In 1833 alone, France has imported 41.5 million article for bloodletting leech.

Until Robert Koch, a batch of medical microbiologists, such as the popular for thousands of more therapy finally faded out the stage of European and American mainstream medicine. Because, people found a way to better antibacterial anti-inflammatory. However, bloodletting therapy did not die.

Bloodletting therapy really didn't have curative effect

In fact, as early as in 1628, Harvey to strong challenges from the bloodletting therapy. Bloodletting therapy are tenacious vitality, mainly from its practical value. Although it is out of the western mainstream medicine, but it is still active in stage of complementary medicine, on certain conditions, or some specific requirements.

For bloodletting therapy research confirmed it can rise to a certain degree of eliminate organ inflammation, lower body temperature, reduce heart burden, stimulate the immune system, and so on. Negate bloodletting therapy are too extreme, the effect of blood-letting simply boils down to \"emergency response\" also is some superficial.

Alan Gordon, a long distance lovers, in preparation for \"before crossing the Sahara desert marathon\", appear weak, knee hurts. After the doctor diagnosed confirmed as \"Hemochromatosis (Hemochromatosis)\". The disease is due to the blood iron content is too high. Excess iron accumulation inside the body, cause harm to the joints and organs, severe cases will die from heart failure. The disease is the most simple way is bleeding on a regular basis. Gordon is under this method of treatment, the body reached a new equilibrium. In April 2006, he ran the marathon \"desert\".

Exsanguinating superstitions about such a long time, there may be a \"gene\". About 1/8 of the people of Europe with HFE gene (symptoms of hereditary hemochromatosis gene), pure above this ratio as high as 25% in Western Europe, according to statistics, about 200 europeans have hemochromatosis. Further research also showed that women hemochromatosis disease later, once a month menstruation explains why their condition often have to wait until after menopause will emerge.

People are not willing to give up completely exsanguinating reason is that in addition to the bloodletting therapy does to some extent part resistance to bacterial infection, to improve blood viscosity, improve the speed of blood by the capillaries have certain help, part of high blood pressure and postoperative fever, also have certain effect. However, for traditional Chinese medicine, with a knife cut vein bleeding into triangular acupuncture bloodletting, winding is mitigation options.

Bloodletting therapy and complex treatment

Because of the influence of different cultures, medical development towards a different path. Pope galen thought of western medicine, blood is produced by the body, and often \"surplus\"; Bleeding is suitable for any patients, including bleeding and weak patients. His views deeply influenced the western style of bloodletting therapy, to cut down the vein bloodletting therapy called \"vein breathing\". China's doctor thinks, blood is very precious, can't put it in large quantities, also can't literally put. So, acupuncture bloodletting strictly should call \"stab winding\". Huangdi neijing cloud: \"stab stab winding, the blood of the small complex\", \"in addition to Wan Chen, the bad blood\", you can see this with galen's point of view are not identical. Stab winding technique not only on the bleeding is different from western bloodletting, and it is in a complete set of theory of meridians and under the guidance of evidence-based medicine theory, there are strict indications and contraindications.

Professor, dean of harvard medical school Sydnty Burwell said to his students: \"in 10 years, you are now learning the knowledge of half will prove to be wrong, and what's worse, we can't know which half is wrong.\" Once the mainstream medicine has faded out today, after more than one century, people would not like to bloodletting therapy to look at today's medicine.