Clinical Abdominal Examinations in Korean Medicine Based on Expert Opinions

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the opinions of experts on abdominal examinations in Korean Medicine included in the curriculum of the College of Korean Medicine.Methods: Among Korean doctors, 14 experts on abdominal examinations were interviewed; the experts included 9 professors of Korean internal medicine, 1 expert in diagnostics of Korean Medicine, 1 primary care Korean medicine doctor, and 3 executives of a (former) Korean association of the abdomen. The interview consisted of questions regarding recognition of the clinical importance of abdominal examinations, how to perform abdominal examinations, the most frequent abdominal examination findings encountered in clinical practice, and the definition of some of the abdominal examination findings.Results: Most interviewees recognized abdominal examinations as important and used them in clinical practice. Opinions on additions and corrections were collected regarding observation items, posture, method, and order during abdominal examinations. Abdominal examination findings that were common clinically were abdominal fullness (腹滿), epigastric stuffness (心下痞鞕), abdominal tenderness, epigastric fullness (心下滿), and rib distention (胸脇苦滿). The answers to the question related to the definitions of abdominal examination findings included consent and supplementary opinions regarding definitions of deficiency-excess, cold-heat, abdominal tenderness, tension of abdominal muscles, succession sounds, and borborygmus; these were mainly selected based on abdominal symptoms that are highly quantifiable.Conclusions: In the future, based on the results of this study, additional research related to the drafting of a standard abdominal examination in Korean medicine should be conducted to provide an opportunity to increase the reliability of Korean medicine diagnosis.