The clinical efficacy of Lou's Wentong method in the treatment of lactational mastitis: A retrospective self-control study with 158 cases

Abstract

BackgroundAs a common breast disease in lactating women, lactational mastitis is clinically manifested as painful breast lumps and systemic symptoms. To a certain extent, this disease may affect the physical and mental health of lactating women and even the breastfeeding of infants. ObjectiveThis study was conducted to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Lou's Wentong Method in the comprehensive treatment of lactational mastitis and its effects on relevant symptoms. MethodsA total of 158 patients who were diagnosed with lactational mastitis in The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University from January 2022 to January 2024 were included in this study to conduct a retrospective analysis. The treatment method comprised oral administration of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions guided by the concept of “Wentong zhi yong” (warming and dispersing therapy for treating abscesses), puncture and pus extraction for patients with abscess formation, and milk drainage for patients with milk stagnation. The clinical symptoms of these patients were collected according to the seven indexes in Lou's quantitative scorecard for evaluating the condition of canker sores before and after treatment. Additionally, the improvement of each symptom after treatment, the total effective rate of the clinical treatment, and the total symptom evaluation score before and after treatment were also analyzed. ResultsIt was demonstrated that there were significant differences in the overall distribution of different severity symptoms (skin erythema, breast pain, number of lumps, size of lumps, breast abscesses, and body temperature) at three time points (P < 0.01). The evaluation of these symptoms at different time points revealed that all symptoms were effectively mitigated over time. Meanwhile, the efficacy was assessed according to the efficacy index to evaluate the efficacy of Lou's Wentong Method in the comprehensive treatment of lactational mastitis. The results corroborated the pronounced efficacy of Lou's Wentong Method in treating lactational mastitis, exhibiting statistical significance (P < 0.01). ConclusionLou's Wentong Method has significant therapeutic effects in the comprehensive treatment of lactational mastitis. Furthermore, this method is conducive to alleviating the clinical symptoms of these patients as soon as possible and can reduce the pain of patients, thus promoting their recovery.