Understanding blood stasis in traditional East Asian medicine: a comparison of Asian and Western sources

Introduction Signs/symptoms of blood stasis syndrome (BSS) in standard instruments from China, Korea and Japan show variability but there are reasons to suspect that there may be differences between non-Asian and Asian patients. A literature review was conducted to investigate these issues. Methods Two searches were conducted: Searching for texts describing BSS signs/symptoms ensuring inclusion of Asian origin texts (principally Chinese) and Western origin texts (Study one). Electronic databases were searched to identify BSS scientific studies describing BSS signs/symptoms (Study two). More commonly mentioned signs/ were compared. Results Study one: From the 21 included texts, six signs/symptoms were generally agreed upon, two more commonly mentioned in Western origin texts, three more commonly mentioned in Chinese origin texts. Study two: Comparing signs/symptoms only three were mentioned by more than half of the 13 studies. In a comparison of signs/symptoms most commonly mentioned across the Western and Chinese origin texts and the Asian instruments/studies, only dark tongue was generally agreed upon, with five others more weakly agreed upon. Three were commonly agreed upon by two of the three source types with one more commonly mentioned in texts of Chinese and one by Western origin and five by Asian instruments/studies. Conclusion English language texts and studies describing BSS signs/symptoms were examined. Evidence of agreement on a few signs/symptoms were identified. English origin texts showed differences to texts originating from Asia, which may support the hypothesis that BSS may manifest differently among Western and Asian patients.