Chapter 757: Try Using Traditional Chinese Medicine Methods

“Judging from this MRI scan, the current infarction area in the right basal ganglia and corona radiata isn’t particularly large.”

Zeng Yunjun looked at the patient’s test results. Drawing on his thirty years of emergency experience, he shared his assessment. “However, clinically speaking, for patients with this type of atherosclerotic thrombotic cerebral infarction, their condition will continue to progress and deteriorate during the acute phase.

“Generally, within three to seven days—or even longer than a week—after the onset, cerebral edema will reach its peak. Under these circumstances, the infarction area may expand further, and intracranial pressure will rise sharply. Fatal risks such as brain herniation or respiratory arrest could occur at any moment…”

“Director Zeng, what you’ve described is modern medicine’s statistical judgment pattern for this disease,” Li Xu said methodically, carefully examining the patient’s paralyzed left limb. “Over the years, based on massive amounts of clinical data and imaging analysis, Western medicine has accumulated highly mature and rich treatment experience. It has extremely precise judgments regarding the natural progression of many diseases.

“In other words, if the patient’s condition is treated according to conventional Western protocols, and they don’t meet the indications for thrombolysis or thrombectomy, it’s very difficult to artificially halt the progression of the disease. The edema phase will arrive right on schedule.”

“That’s right,” Zeng Yunjun nodded. “For some conditions, because there is massive clinical data to support them, doctors know exactly which day the condition will worsen and which day it will peak.

“Given this patient’s current situation, if we solely rely on conservative Western treatments, we can only watch as her condition develops into peak cerebral edema over the next week. Only after surviving this critical period can she enter the long recovery phase. And during this escalating edema process, Western medications can often only relieve intracranial pressure; they struggle to fundamentally reverse or block it.”

Although the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine bore the name “Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine,” it was essentially a large-scale, comprehensive Grade 3A hospital. It offered both Chinese and Western medicine and boasted highly advanced equipment. Compared to purely Western comprehensive hospitals like the City People’s Hospital, the proportion of traditional Chinese medicine here was simply heavier, and its TCM departments were more specialized.

However, there was no shortage of purely Western medicine departments or integrative medicine departments in the hospital. In the emergency department, handling life-threatening emergencies like sudden trauma, poisoning, and heart failure primarily relied on modern Western resuscitation and treatment.

Zeng Yunjun, the director of the emergency department, actually had a background in Western clinical medicine. Yet, having worked at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for thirty years and frequently interacting with veteran TCM practitioners from various departments, he wasn’t averse to traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, he understood quite a bit of TCM theory. He was a versatile expert with dual qualifications in both medical systems, though his proficiency in Western emergency care was higher, making him a highly authoritative figure in the resuscitation of critically ill patients.

“Therefore, facing this dilemma where Western medicine can only ‘passively wait,’ using herbal medicine for early intervention gives us a chance to take the initiative and break this deadlock,” Li Xu said, withdrawing his hand. “Even when the condition passes the dangerous acute phase and enters the recovery stage, Western medicine is absolutely not as adept at restoring neurological function as traditional Chinese medicine. Through replenishing Qi and blood, as well as resolving stasis and unblocking the meridians, TCM can greatly promote the recovery of damaged cranial nerves and reduce lasting aftereffects.”

“Heh.” Zeng Yunjun chuckled softly. “I’ve long heard that your skills are quite good, Dean Li, and that you have a profound understanding of traditional Chinese medicine. Since you have this idea, we can certainly give it a try. Let’s discuss the specific details of the condition first.”

Although Zeng Yunjun said this, his slight chuckle had inadvertently revealed his true inner thoughts. He wasn’t very optimistic about it.

In his view, while the patient’s current condition wasn’t as severe as he had initially imagined—meaning there hadn’t been a massive cerebral infarction leading to brain herniation, nor was there an immediate need for emergency decompressive craniotomy, and she still fell slightly short of the indications for ICU admission—her illness was by no means light.

Less than twenty-four hours had passed since the sudden onset of her hemiplegia that afternoon. This meant the disease’s progression hadn’t yet reached the most terrifying peak of cerebral edema. The upcoming three to seven days would be the most critical life-and-death crossroads, where unexpected complications were most likely to strike.

For patients with this kind of large-vessel cerebral infarction, the progression of the disease mostly followed established precedents. Often, they might seem perfectly fine, but after a nap, the infarction area could suddenly expand, plunging them straight into a coma or even death. This was known as a progressive stroke. Faced with such a treacherous disease, he wondered how a few bowls of lukewarm herbal soup could possibly block the progression or reverse cerebral edema. Zeng Yunjun harbored serious doubts.

“The patient currently has left-sided hemiplegia, with muscle strength practically at zero,” Li Xu noted. Ignoring Zeng Yunjun’s attitude, he continued his meticulous TCM physical examination. “Her mind is clear, but her speech is slurred, and she cannot vocalize properly. She has an absence of sweating across her whole body, and her skin surface even feels somewhat cool to the touch… Open your mouth… The tongue body is pale and dark, with too little fluid, and there is a slight, thin white coating on the middle and back of the tongue…”

“For this acute phase of stroke and hemiplegia… Can we use the An Gong Bezoar Pill or Awakening Brain Calm?”

A familiar voice suddenly rang out at the door of the resuscitation room. It was Lin Guorui, the director of the internal medicine department. He happened to be the second-line chief on duty for internal medicine today. Hearing the commotion from the emergency department and learning that Li Xu had brought in a thorny stroke patient in the middle of the night, he had quickly thrown on his white coat and rushed over to help consult.

The An Gong Bezoar Pill was the first of the “Three Treasures” in traditional Chinese medicine for treating acute strokes, best known for clearing heat, detoxifying, eliminating phlegm, and opening the bodily orifices. Many ordinary people even regarded it as a Divine Medicine for saving lives during a stroke.

“That’s not appropriate,” Li Xu shook his head, rejecting Lin Guorui’s suggestion.

“If it were a ‘closed syndrome’ characterized by sudden unconsciousness, a clenched jaw, a flushed face, and a hot body, then the An Gong Bezoar Pill would indeed be the first choice. However…” Li Xu explained in detail. “Look, the patient’s current condition falls under ‘stroke involving the meridians’ in traditional Chinese medicine. She isn’t delirious or unconscious; her mind is clear. Her prominent symptoms are merely speech impairment and limb paralysis. She can’t hold objects with either hand, her legs ache too much to lie down comfortably, and she has an absence of sweating coupled with an aversion to cold.

“This indicates that the pathogenic factors are still in the meridians and haven’t yet penetrated deep into the viscera. Furthermore, she belongs to the syndrome of Qi deficiency and blood stasis, with wind-cold invading the collaterals—leaning toward ‘coldness’ and ‘deficiency.’ The An Gong Bezoar Pill is extremely cold in nature and is primarily used to ‘open the orifices and awaken the spirit’ to clear heat. If used on her, not only would it not treat the symptoms, but it would also add cold upon cold, further damaging her healthy Qi and causing her meridians to become even more blocked.

“Therefore, the focus of treatment right now should lean toward ‘warming the meridians, dispersing the cold, replenishing Qi, and unblocking the collaterals,’ rather than blindly trying to open the orifices and awaken the spirit.”