Emptiness or a combination of Fullness and Emptiness in the middle and late stages. Thus the
first three of the above patterns usually appear in the beginning stages of the disease and the
others in the middle-late stages. The Full patterns inevitably change into Empty patterns with
time.
For example:
- Lung-Heat develops into Liver-Kidney deficiency
- Damp-Heat develops into Stomach and Spleen deficiency
- Cold-Dampness develops into Stomach and Spleen deficiency.
The reverse is also possible, i.e. deficient patterns can give rise to Excess ones. For example:
- Stomach-Spleen deficiency may lead to Dampness
- Kidney-Liver deficiency may lead to Blood stasis.
Full and Empty patterns of Atrophy Syndrome are differentiated in Table 28.1Table 28.1.
It is very common, especially in the middlelate stages of the disease, to see a combination of Full
and Empty patterns, e.g.:
- Damp-Heat and Stomach-Spleen deficiency
- Cold-Dampness and Stomach-Spleen deficiency
- Stomach-Spleen deficiency and Heart-Spleen collapse
- Stomach-Spleen deficiency and Kidney-Liver deficiency
- Kidney-Liver deficiency and Stasis of Blood in the channels.
There is a correspondence between aetiological factors and patterns as follows:
- Wind-Heat in a Warm disease causes only one pattern, i.e. that of Lung-Heat
injuring Yin fluids - External Dampness leads to Damp-Heat or Cold-Dampness