Female Infertility & Reproductive Gynaecology: A Comprehensive Clinical Manual of Integrated Chinese Medicine and Biomedicine

Description

By Yuning Wu, Celine Leonard, Michael Haeberle

ISBN: 9780955909658

Journal of Chinese Medicine 2019

This landmark manual is the most complete presentation of the integrated Chinese and biomedical treatment of infertility and reproductive gynaecology in the English language. Although primarily devoted to Chinese herbal medicine, the comprehensive discussions of every aspect of infertility, and the acupuncture protocols given for every pattern, will benefit every practitioner working in the field.

Its primary author, Professor Yuning Wu, is principal doctor and Professor of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine at the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is one of the most eminent fertility specialists working in China. Infertility is one of the fields where the finest integration of the two medicines can be found and Yuning Wu demonstrates throughout this deeply clinical book the strengths of this dual approach. However, her deep knowledge of biomedicine and her willingness to use it whenever appropriate should not obscure her mastery of Chinese medicine. Readers will quickly discover that her disease diagnosis, pattern differentiation, choice of prescriptions, precise modifications and understanding of individual medicinal substances is of the highest order and based on extensive clinical experience. Chinese medicine practitioners throughout the world and their many thousands of grateful patients owe her an enormous debt for making the fruits of a lifetime of dedicated medical practice so generously available to all.

As she writes in the Preface, “In this book, I offer my nearly 50 years of experience without holding anything back in order to help practitioners truly understand the essence of Chinese medicine. This includes understanding the aetiology of disease by differentiation of its symptoms and signs (审证求因, shen zheng qiu yin), individualised treatment based on pattern differentiation (辨证论治，bian zheng lun zhi), and the concept of holism (整体观念, zheng ti guan nian) which always considers the patient as a whole and strives to regulate the balance of yin and yang, qi, blood and the zangfu organs to treat disease and prevent relapse.

Review:
When I was asked to review Female Infertility & Reproductive Gynaecology: A Comprehensive Clinical Manual of Integrated Chinese Medicine and Biomedicine, my initial thought was “finally, someone wrote the book!” Over my 25 years of practice and teaching, I have been frequently asked by students for a complete reference text for herbalists treating infertility and it has arrived. Yuning Wu, Celine Leonard and Michael Haeberle have produced a definitive source for practitioners that clearly outlines how we should think about diagnosing and treating the complicated clinical presentations that manifest in women struggling with infertility.
As a long time practitioner and teacher of Chinese Herbal Medicine with extensive experience in the treatment of female infertility, I am delighted to finally see a comprehensive integrated reference text available to practitioners to advance their knowledge and treatment options. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 10 women in the United States ages 15–44 have difficulty becoming or staying pregnant. This population deserves well informed experienced practitioners of Chinese and Biomedicine and this represents an excellent source text for using these medicines together. I look forward to referring this resource to colleagues and students.
-Caroline Radice, DACM, LAc. Maplewood, New Jersey USA

About the Authors

Celine Leonard is an experienced infertility practitioner and long-term student of Dr. Wu. Drawing on her own extensive clinical experience, she drew together material from numerous lectures of Dr. Wu and added her own content and case histories.

Michael Haeberle is a reproductive endocrinonologist working in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics, including operative gynaecology, and author of numerous papers on related subjects.

Esther Denz broguht the authors together and made this book possible. As an experienced practitioner in the filed of infertilty, she has added valuable case histories.

Peter Deadman is an experienced editor and drew together the work of the different authors and editors and complete the editing process in the final year of the project.

Inga Heese is an experienced practitioner of Chinese medicine, specialising in treating infertility in her clinics in the UK and Germany. She cut her editing teeth working on Debra Betts’ Essential Guide to Acupuncture in Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Daniel Maxwell is a practitioner of Chinese medicine in the UK, also specialising in infertility. He has been principal editor of The Journal of Chinese Medicine for several years and brought a clear critical mind to the work of editing this book.