Abstract
Objectives Edema occurs in various disorders, such as heart failure, nephrotic syndrome, renal failure, liver cirrhosis, and cancer. The excessive accumulation of interstitial fluid in limb tissue will often manifest with ankle and knee swelling and lowers patient's quality of life. But the conventional treatment includes restricting dietary sodium and using diuretics. The purpose of this study is about significant improvement of a patient with edema who had suffered from dependent gait accompanied by mild pain, after treatment by herbal medicine based on SCM(Sasang constitutional medicine). Methods The pattern identification of the patient was diagnosed with a superficial disease of Taeeumin. So after the admission, Gunyuljejo-tang was used, almost two times per day during 2 weeks. Also, we applied acupuncture routinely every day and western medicine as needed. We measured the circumferences of Lt. thigh and followed up the bioelectrical impedance analysis and checked the appearance of lower limb. Results and Conclusions The therapy was effective, and the circumferences, which was 59.69cm at onset time, decreased to 52.07cm almost same to the healthy side of her thigh. There was no more edematous sign on the body, either. This case showed that management of Taeeumin's healthy energy(呼散之氣, the energy of exhalation) could be effective in treating edema.