Case Number 3

Abstract

In this case Xu tackles the task of differential diagnosis not based on the canonically-based manifestation types as in the previous case, but rather from the perspective of the patient’s symptoms. Xu uses this example to stress the importance of the fine observational skills essential in diagnosing cold damage disorders. The need for clear distinctions between symptoms, of course, is not unique to Cold Damage disorders, but this case provides us a glimpse into the thought processes of a physician and how he perceived the patient as a whole, on the one hand, and differentiated slight variations in symptoms to reach the correct diagnosis on the other. In order to make his presentation more engaging, Xu frames it in a brief dialogue between himself and another doctor discussing the issues in the diagnosis. In the dialogue, the other doctor is ignorant about Cold Damage disorders and their treatment. Xu often emphasizes that his contemporaries’ lack of familiarity with the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders.