Pulmonary welling-abscess

From Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet (金匮要略 jīn guì yào lüè). A welling-abscess (yōng) of the lung; arising when externally contracted wind evil and heat toxin brew and obstruct the lung, and when the heat causes qì stagnation and blood stasis, which binds to form a welling-abscess (yōng) that in time starts to suppurate. The classic sign is coughing up of pus and blood. Pulmonary welling-abscess (yōng) is associated with heat effusion and shivering, cough, chest pain, rapid respiration, expectoration of sticky fishy-smelling purulent phlegm in severe cases producing phlegm and blood.

Biomedical correspondence: pulmonary abscess, bronchiectasis.

Medicinal therapy: Clear the lung and transform phlegm; resolve toxin and expel pus. Use Lonicera and Forsythia Powder (银翘散 yín qiào sǎn), Lepidium/Descurainiae and Jujube Lung-Draining Decoction (葶苈大枣泻肺汤 tíng lì dà zǎo xiè fèi tāng), or Platycodon Decoction (桔梗汤 jié gěng tāng) with judicious addition of houttuynia (Houttuyniae Herba, 鱼腥草 yú xīng cǎo) and wild buckwheat root (Fagopyri Cymosi Rhizoma et Radix, 天荞麦根 tiān qiáo mài gēn).