The establishment of the TCM Klinik Kotzting near Munich in Germany was approved by the Bavarian government. In March 1991 it was set up by the cooperation between Beijing University of TCM and German entrepreneur Mr. Anton Staudinger.

 

It is the first hospital for TCM in Germany. In this 81-beds hospital, there are nine Chinese physicians from Beijing University of TCM. The Beijing staff consists of 3 internists, 3 Tuina-Massage doctors, 2 acupuncture doctors and 1 Qi-Gong doctor, who collaborate with six German physicians, and 2 professional translators who facilitate communication. Patients can be referred to the hospital directly by their family general practitioner (GPs), who are qualified orthodox medical (OM) doctors. Public health insurance companies in Germany have agreed to pay the medical expenses for the inpatients, who have joined their insurance scheme.The patients who want to be treated in the hospital have to make an appointment for admission and usually should wait for half a year. TCM-Klinik Kotzting carries out the following three major missions and tasks: education, scientific research and medical service.

 

In the meantime up to 10,000 Patients were treated in the Kotzting hospital. The successful operation of Kotzting hospital has popularized TCM in Germany and even in Europe. Moreover it showed a new and effective mode of running a TCM hospital. The kind of diseases admitted in Kotzting hospital were mainly the chronic ones with a relatively little curative effect of modern medicine and most of them were pain problems. Good treatment results of some diseases were achieved, experiences accumulated and a relatively stable spectrum of diseases was seen during these last 10 years.There is a detailed statistical report of clinical results of the period from 1991 to 1998, to be discussed further in this article.

 

Migraine
The majority of patients, 14.1% of the total admitted in our hospital suffered from migraine. The research on treating migraine by acupuncture is carried out in cooperation with the Munich University. Migraine is a frequently encountered disease in Europe, especially among women. It is likely to occur in a chronic way and is difficult to cure. TCM has a lot of experience in treating this disease. We decided to treat according to the principle of differentiation of syndromes and a fairly good effect was achieved by using Chinese herbs, acupuncturemoxibustion combined with olfactory and point-injection drugs, etc. Statistical data showed that the total effective rate was 81.6% after treatment and 72.2% after a year followup.

 

Peripheral nerve disease
Problems included all kinds of polyneuritis, that made up 10% of the annual admission. In general the curative effect for these diseases was rather good. The total effective rate was 67.1% after treatment and 55.3% a year later. The curative effect of modern medicine on such diseases is poor and TCM had a distinct effect by combining acupuncture, point-injection drugs and Chinese herbs to supplement Qi , nourish Yin and activate blood circulation in order to get rid of the obstruction in the meridians and collaterals.

 

Upper respiratory tract disease and Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Problems included chronic rhinitis, nasal sinusitis, bronchitis and asthma, that accounted for 7.3% of the annual admission.The total effective rate of chronic nasal sinusitis was 78.1% after treatment and 77.8% one year later. Statistical data of chronic bronchitis showed 82.6% total effective rate after treatment and 90.1% one year later and for asthma 74.2%, respectively 75.3%. Heat-toxin clearing and blood activating Chinese herbs were often used in chronic rhinitis and nasal sinusitis. For asthma and chronic bronchitis emphasis should be put on relapse prevention. External use of herbal plasters on Back-Shu points was also applied besides Chinese herbs and acupuncture.

 

Diseases of the digestive system
Most of them were ulcerative colitis, morbid Crohn, intestinal irritation, gastrointestinal dysfunction, chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, hepatitis and constipation, which made up 5.7% of the annual admission. The effective rate for morbid Crohn was 74.6% after treatment, 63.0% one year later. TCM holds that the spleen-stomach system is the foundation of the acquired constitution and the source for Qi and blood generation. Digestive system diseases are closely related to diet. There is a great difference in eating habit between the East and the West. Raw salad and milk are common products in a European diet. Due to it, stagnation of dampness in the Middle Jiao easily occurs. Deficiency of spleen and deficiency-cold in the Middle-JIAO made up a great proportion of the spleen-stomach diseases in Kotzting TCM hospital, and therefore pungent-warm and dampness eliminating herbs were widely used. Each patient was asked about his diet. Adjustment of diet was instructed according to one’s syndrome diagnosis and many people benefited from it. So, diet therapy became a part of the treatment.

 

Osteoarthropathy
Mainly including rheumatism, rheumatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, cervical spondylopathy, hernia of cervical disc, pain in waist and lower extremities, which made up 38.6% of annual figures. These kind of diseases account for the largest proportion. Statistical material showed that the total effective rate for cervical syndrome was 83.5% after treatment and 78.2% one year later. The total effective rate of lumbar syndrome was respectively 76.4% and 68.5%. The treatment methods for pain in the neck, back, waist and legs were mainly massage and acupuncture-moxibustion, supplemented with Chinese herbs orally and external plasters. Acupuncture-moxibustion and massage play an important role in treating such diseases. It can subdue swelling, relieve pain and recover the function of the joints by means of dredging the meridians, relieve the inhibition of Qi and blood and ease the movement of the joints.

 

Dermatopathy
Mainly regarding neurodermatitis, psoriasis, eczema, urticaria and pemphigus, that made up 2.1% of the total. TCM is good in treating dermatopathy. Many dermatopathy patients, who already passed through many different therapies were admitted and good effect was achieved through the Kotzting hospital treatment. The total effective rate of neurodermatitis was 87.1% after treatment and 76.2% one year later. TCM holds that the human body is an integrated whole. Though dermatopathy is manifested externally, it is related to many internal factors, therefore the treatment should not concentrate only on local aspects but also on the whole system.

 

Otopathy
Mainly problem of tinnitus, that accounted for 3.5% of the total. The total effective rate was 48.0% after treatment and 76.8% one year later.

 

Others
The problems included some difficult and complicated cases, such as multiple sclerosis, limb stump severe pain, trigeminal neuralgia, burnout syndrome and depression.
The curative effect of above diseases was achieved under the guiding principle of holism and diagnosis based on differentiation of syndromes and cannot be separated from the many orthodox therapies in Kotzting hospital, TCM holds that change of climate, one’s thought and lifestyle can influence one’s physiology and pathology, that’s to say nature and man correspond to each other, body and mind respond to each other. Thus on the one hand, TCM stresses the specific individual treatment of a patient, lays emphasis on differentiation of syndromes and on the other hand, with the accumulation of experiences and realizing that some diseases could progress further, the combination of the principle of syndrome differentiation and a fixed prescription was considered and some standard treatments got formulated. So the choice of treatment based on differentiation of syndromes should be combined with treatment based on differentiation of diseases. The combination for each kind of therapy is also an advantage for TCM. TCM relies on one's own ability to eliminate disease, for example, Chinese herbs, acupuncture-moxibustion, massage and Qi- Gong regulate man’s Qi and blood, meridians and Yin-Yang through specific ways and will finally restore the balance of the system.
Since the patients here suffered from a chronic disease, they should take the medicine for a longer time.They were often advised to take the Chinese herbs for 1 to 3 months longer and the dosage should be reduced to one half, and acupuncture and massage were also recommended. According to the follow-up of the patients and the summary of the curative effect, we found that the effect for some diseases was fairly good and that the total effective rate and remissions even increased after one year followup, which showed that the effect of TCM could last for a longer period. Because of the limited treatment conditions and case histories, of course our opinion could be biased. After 10 years work in the Kotzting hospital, finally treatment experiences for certain diseases accumulated thanks to the efforts of both Chinese and German doctors, who played a positive role in the development of TCM in Germany