Formulas · Clear Heat 淸熱 · Seui Deukhyobang (世醫得效方)

Reed Leaf Decoction

Wiyeop-tang

한글 위엽탕 · Pinyin Wei Ye Tang

葦葉湯

The transcription prints 肺癕 for 肺癰 and 心胷甲錯 for 心胸甲錯, normalized here. 葦葉, reed leaf, is registered under noyeop 蘆葉; 冬瓜仁 under donggwaja 冬瓜子.

Composition 構成

Uiiin Yi Yi Ren
薏苡仁 의이인 · Coix Seed

8 g
Chief 君

cut up
Donggwaja Dong Gua Zi
冬瓜子 동과자 · Winter Melon Seed

8 g
Deputy 臣

冬瓜仁, cut up
Doin Tao Ren
桃仁 도인 · Peach Kernel

8 g
Deputy 臣

cut up
Noyeop Lu Ye
蘆葉 노엽 · Reed Leaf

—
Envoy 使

葦葉, one handful, decocted first in two jan of water down to one and strained

Total 24 g per packet (첩) · representative dosage — verify against source texts. Excludes 1 ingredient measured by count or used as a vehicle, shown as —.

Received this formula from your practitioner? Amounts shown here are classical reference values — granule and prepared products differ. Always follow your prescribed dosage and directions.

Actions 效能

Treats lung abscess with scaling of the skin over the chest
Clears heat and vexation and settles cough and panting
Expels pus, so that pus and blood brought up are not to be feared

Indications 主治

Pattern-based

Lung abscess (肺癰) with the skin of the chest scaled and roughened (心胸甲錯)
Cough and panting with vexing heat
Pus and blood brought up after the dose

Biomedical correlates

Lung abscess
Empyema
Bronchiectasis with purulent sputum

Source text 原文

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治肺癰心胸甲錯, 咳喘煩熱. 薏苡仁ㆍ冬瓜仁ㆍ桃仁各二錢, 剉. 先以葦葉一握ㆍ水二盞, 煎取一盞, 去滓, 入三藥, 煎至六分, 去滓, 食後服. 吐膿血勿怪. 《得效》

Translation

Treats lung abscess with the skin over the chest scaled and roughened, and with cough, panting and vexing heat. Coix seed, winter melon seed and peach kernel, 2 don each, cut up. First take one handful of reed leaf and two jan of water, decoct down to one jan, strain off the dregs, put in the three drugs, decoct down to six tenths, strain again, and take after food. Do not be alarmed if pus and blood are brought up. — Seui Deukhyobang 得效 (Donguibogam · Ongjeo)

Clinical commentary 臨床

Three seeds in a reed-leaf decoction — the plainest formula in the 肺癰 set and the closest to the Jingui's reed-stem family. Coix seed, winter melon seed and peach kernel together drain and break up what has collected; the reed leaf is decocted first and its liquor used as the water for the rest, so that the cooling is in the vehicle rather than in the dose. 甲錯, skin that has gone scaled and rough like armour plating, is the Jingui's sign for long-standing internal suppuration, and the leaf's closing line — 吐膿血勿怪, do not be alarmed if pus and blood come up — tells the practitioner that drainage through the airway is the point of the dose, not an accident. That is a sound reading of a lung abscess or empyema. **Coughing up pus and blood requires chest imaging and antibiotics, and a collection often has to be drained.** — Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.