Clinical thoughts on treatment of reflux esophagitis from shaoyin heat transformation

Reflux esophagitis (RE) is a common chronic refractory disease, principally manifested as acid regurgitation and scorching sensation. The recurrence of its symptoms has seriously affected the quality of life of patients and their families. For the treatment of this disease, conventional western medicine treatments mainly involve oral administration of acid suppression and gastrointestinal motility drugs. However, there are still some patients with poor efficacy and often need long-term maintenance treatment, which not only brings economic and psychological burden to patients, and long-term medication may cause adverse reactions, such as prolonged application of proton pump inhibitors leading to the occurrence of atrophic gastritis. RE can be classified into “acid vomitting”, “epigastric upset”, “hiccup” in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Over the years, valuable experience in treating RE has been accumulated in TCM. Based on long-term clinical experience and inspired by Treatise on Cold Damage, Dr. Bo Li first proposed treatment of RE using HuanglianEjiao Decoction and Zhuling Decoction, and has achieved favorable effect in clinic. Two medical cases were provided for further exchange and discussion. In this paper, the patient’s medical history, condition and laboratory examination were mentioned. Moreover, the TCM diagnosis process and the prescribed TCM were described in detail. Finally, the changes of the patient’s condition and prognosis before and after were recorded.