1Department of Chinese medicine, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical
Foundation, New Taipei City, Taiwan
2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi
Medical Foundation, New Taipei City, Taiwan
3School of Post-baccalaureate Chinese Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
【Summary】
A 35-year-old pregnant woman (G1P0A0) had watery vaginal discharge on 2020/01/04 at a gestational age (GA) of 23+2 weeks, with a cervical length of 2.16cm and no uterine contraction. Due to cervical incompetence with progressive shortening of cervical length, she was admitted to our hospital to receive tocolytic treatment (ritodrine). During hospitalization, the patient suffered from abdominal distension and poor sleep quality, which kept recurring even after taking Western medicine. She received traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for symptom relief on 2020/03/06 at a GA of 32+2 weeks. The TCM differential diagnosis revealed Zi-xuan with liver-stomach disharmony and heart and liver blood deficiency with heat. The TCM treatment dispersed and rectified the stagnated liver Qi, nourished yin, cleared heat, and tonified the blood to prevent miscarriage. Following the TCM treatment, the uterine contraction frequency and tocolytic drug dosage were reduced. The main symptoms (i.e., abdominal distension and poor sleep) and the simple health scale scores improved. Finally, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy at a GA of 35+5 weeks. From this case, the efficacy and precautions in combining the TCM and Western medicine treatments for tocolysis can be discussed.
【Keywords】preterm labor; Zi-xuan; tocolysis; Integrative Medicine