Common Laboratory Tests Used by TCM Practitioners

When to Refer Patients for Lab Tests and How to Read and Interpret the Results

Partha Banerjee MD and Christina Captain

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners need to have an understanding of Western medical testing to recognize when laboratory tests are required and to interpret test results that are brought to them by patients. This book is an essential reference for the TCM classroom and clinic that teaches how to use and understand conventional lab testing in the treatment and referral of patients.

Focusing on symptoms that commonly present in TCM practices, the book groups the lab tests by diseases or systems. Within each chapter are TCM case studies and perspectives, as well as multiple choice quizzes that test the reader's knowledge. Co-written by a doctor of Western medicine and an acupuncture physician, the book aims to familiarize TCM practitioners with the terminology and methodology of lab tests, bridging the gap between Eastern and Western schools of medicine and promoting an integrative approach to improve the overall care of the patient.

Contents

Preface. 1. Complete Blood Count (CBC). 2. Hemoccult. 3. Kidney and Urine. 4. Electrolytes. 5. Glucose Metabolism and Diabetes Mellitus. 6. Liver Function. 7. Lipids. 8. Thyroid and Endocrinology. Practice Questions. Further Reading. Glossary.

Reviews

'Common Laboratory Tests Used by TCM Practitioners should be in every practitioner's office, every school library and part of acupuncture programs. The patient expects it. Society needs it. The book is arranged by disease and system. This approach is enhanced for learners with clear and pertinent background information which services the acupuncturist's needs perfectly.'

- William R. Morris, PhD, DOAM, President, AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Austin, Texas

'Doctors of TCM in China include two years of modern medical sciences as part of their training. They routinely order blood tests in the clinic to help with differential diagnosis, as well as monitoring the patient's prognosis using Chinese herbal medicine. As TCM practitioners in the West treat complicated internal disorders, it is important for them to understand conventional blood tests from other doctors, as well as order their own tests. Doctors Banerjee and Captain have written an extraordinary and thorough training manual on the use of common lab tests in a TCM practice. It is destined to become a standard text on the subject in our schools and clinics.'

- Jake Paul Fratkin, OMD, L.Ac, author of Essential Chinese Formulas