The Chinese Medicine Treatment of Paediatric Idiopathic Pulmonary Haemosiderosis

Idiopathic pulmonary haemosiderosis (IPH) is a rare condition found primarily in children. It is characterised by recurrent alveolar capillary bleeding and accumulation of haemosiderin in the lungs. Disease aetiology and pathogenesis are unknown and it has no generally recognised specific treatment. Over the last six years, Professor Hu Tian Cheng has treated this condition on the basis of combined disease and pattern identification. Idiopathic pulmonary haemosiderosis has acute and remission phases. The acute phase presents typically as a repletion pattern, usually damp-heat depressed in the Lung, Lung and Spleen damp-heat, Lung and Stomach depressive heat or Bladder damp-heat. In the remission phase, vacuity patterns are common, typically dual vacuity of Lung and Spleen, or qi and blood depletion. This paper documents the treatment of 20 paediatric IPH patients who were treated by Professor Hu Tian Cheng using Chinese medicine as the main approach. The clinical treatment and preliminary results are described, together with a discussion of issues related to treatment based on disease and pattern identification, and a detailed representative case study.