Abstract
Objectives This study was designed to analyze the clinical studies on Mental retardation(MR) in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM). Methods For this study, we searched the clinical studies on MR, which had been published from 2003 to 2007, through web site CNKI(中國知識基礎設施工 http://www.cnki.net). There were 17 clinical studies and we focused on those studies. Results 1. In those Chinese studies, they used following words to describe Mental retardation; 小人弱智($xi\check{a}o\acute{e}rru\grave{o}zh\grave{i}$), 智能發育不全($zh\grave{i}n\acute{e}ngf\bar{a}y\grave{u}buqu\acute{a}n$), 智力低下($zh\grave{i}l\grave{i}d\bar{i}xi\grave{a}$), 精神發育遲滯($j\bar{i}ngsh\acute{e}f\bar{a}y\grave{u}ch\acute{i}zh\grave{i}$), 智能落后($zh\grave{i}n\acute{e}nglu\grave{o}h\grave{o}u$), 智能落后($zh\grave{i}n\acute{e}ngch\acute{i}hu\check{a}n$), 失天愚型患人($xi\bar{a}nti\bar{a}ny\acute{u}x\acute{i}nghu\grave{a}n'\acute{e}r$). 2. There were many kinds of TCM treatment methods for MR, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, electroacupunture, acupoint injection, Chuna therapy, and special education. And those TCM treatments methods showed higher efficacies in the treatment of MR compared with Western medicine. 3. Mental retardation was related with the deficiency of heart, kidney, liver, spleen(心虛, 腎虛, 肝虛, 脾虛) and the pathological mechanism of Phlegm(絹) and Blood stasis(慫沂)in the studies about the Bian Zheng-the types of differential diagnosis- of MR. 4. Most of studies used Intelligence Quotient(IQ) to assess the efficacy of TCM treatment of MR. And the duration of treatment, the degree of illness, the age of patient, and the cause of illness affected the prognosis of MR. Conclusions These results suggest that traditional medicine could be one of the useful treatments on MR. And these results could be used in the clinical practices and studies on MR in Korea.