Treatment of an elderly patient with acute abdominal pain with traditional Korean medicine

Abstract

Abdominal pain in elderly patients leads to challenge due to diagnostic difficulty and high incidence of complications. This case report presents an elderly patient with acute and severe abdominal pain, who did not respond to Western treatments. The patient was diagnosed to have abdominal pain by Yang deficiency of spleen (脾陽虛). Acupuncture (mainly at LI4 and LR3), indirect moxibustion (CV4 and CV8), and a herbal drug [DaehwangBuja-Tang (大黃附子湯)] were given to the patient; the abdominal pain and related symptoms disappeared completely within 3 days. This study proved the potential use of traditional Korean medicine for treating abdominal pain in elderly patients.

Keywords: abdominal pain; acupuncture; elderly patient; moxibustion; traditional Korean medicine.