TCM External Hot-Compress Method for Prostatitis
The hot-compress (yu) preparation is a little-known TCM dosage form that is both effective and very low in side effects. This article uses the TCM hot-compress method for chronic prostatitis as an example to introduce this simple, economical, and convenient TCM treatment.
Hot-compress formula 1: Longdancao (Gentianae Radix et Rhizoma) 30 g, Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix) 20 g, Huangbai (Phellodendri Cortex) 20 g, Cheqianzi (Plantaginis Semen) 30 g, Kushen (Sophorae Flaviscentis Radix) 20 g, Wuzhuyu (Evodiae Fructus) 50 g, Rougui (Cinnamomi Cortex) 30 g, Xiaohuixiang (Foeniculi Fructus) 50 g, Shengjiang (Zingiberis Rhizoma Recens) 30 g, Wuyao (Linderae Radix) 20 g, Danggui (Angelicae Sinensis Radix) 20 g, Difuzi (Kochiae Fructus) 50 g, wheat bran 50 g, Sanleng (Sparganii Rhizoma) 30 g, Ezhu (Curcumae Rhizoma) 30 g, edible vinegar, appropriate amount.
The actions of this formula are to clear heat and drain dampness, promote diuresis and reduce swelling, and move qi and activate blood. It is indicated for chronic prostatitis presenting with dribbling, difficult urination, and distending pain/discomfort in the perineum.
Preparation and use: Mash the Shengjiang, grind the other herbs into a fine powder, mix in a pan and stir-fry hot, add an appropriate amount of vinegar until the consistency allows a handful to clump and break apart when released. Wrap the herbs in cloth and apply hot to the Huiyin (CV-1) point; in autumn and winter, add a cotton pad over the outside to retain heat. Apply hot for 30 minutes each time, once in the morning and once in the evening. Each dose of herbs can be stir-fried with vinegar four times and used for two days. Eight days make one course; use four courses consecutively, with a two-day interval between courses.
The above formula contains heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs, blood-activating and stasis-resolving herbs, and diuretic herbs. Chronic inflammation often involves both inflammatory exudation and proliferation, so treatment should comprehensively address anti-inflammation/antibiosis together with activating blood, resolving stasis, regulating qi, and dissipating nodules.
In this formula, Longdancao, Chaihu, Huangbai, Kushen, and Difuzi clear lower-burner damp-heat; Shengjiang, Wuzhuyu, Rougui, and Xiaohuixiang are warming herbs, acrid and warm in nature, which help dilate local capillaries. Wuyao, Danggui, Sanleng, and Ezhu activate blood, resolve stasis, and break up hard accumulations, acting on tissue proliferation caused by chronic inflammation; Cheqianzi promotes diuresis.
Through hot-compress transdermal delivery, the above herbs act around the lesion, giving more pronounced efficacy. Because the drugs bypass hepatic first-pass metabolism, drug-induced liver injury is avoided and the active constituents are not destroyed; this mode of administration is more suitable than oral decoction.
Hot-compress formula 2: Wuzhuyu (Evodiae Fructus) 20 g, Xiaohuixiang (Foeniculi Fructus) 20 g, Rougui (Cinnamomi Cortex) 15 g, Xiangfu (Cyperi Rhizoma) 15 g, Shaoyao (Paeoniae Radix) 10 g, Guizhi (Cinnamomi Ramulus) 10 g, Chaihu (Bupleuri Radix) 10 g, Yuanhu (Corydalidis Rhizoma) 10 g, Taoren (Persicae Semen) 10 g, Honghua (Carthami Flos) 15 g, Zihu Diding (Violae Herba) 20 g, Pugongying (Taraxaci Herba) 20 g, Baijiangcao (Patriniae Herba) 20 g, Baitouweng (Pulsatillae Radix) 20 g.
The actions of this formula are to clear heat and detoxify, warm the channels and unblock the vessels, and move qi and activate blood. It is indicated for chronic prostatitis with difficult urination and perineal distending pain. Preparation and use are basically the same as the above formula. This formula combines cold and heat herbs, with each herb emphasizing warming the channels, unblocking the collaterals, regulating qi, and stopping pain; it is more suitable for chronic prostatitis presenting with pain.
From the perspective of modern pathology, chronic inflammation is mostly proliferative, with proliferative tissue around the lesion. In TCM terms, such proliferative tissue belongs to blood stasis and phlegm nodulation; TCM formula composition therefore considers both root and branch simultaneously. Such compound formulas typically combine warming the channels and unblocking the collaterals, clearing heat and detoxifying, activating blood and resolving stasis, and dissipating phlegm nodules.
This treatment method can be extrapolated: not only chronic prostatitis but also other chronic diseases amenable to transdermal delivery through the body surface can be considered for treatment by this method.