Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), 461-24 Jeonmin-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-811, Republic of Korea.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2009 Sep;6 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):11-9. doi: 10.1093/ecam/nep100.
Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM) is a unique traditional Korean therapeutic alternative form of medicine. Based on the Yin and Yang theory and on Confucianism, humans are classified into four constitutions. These differ in terms of (i) sensitivity to certain groups of herbs and medicines, (ii) equilibrium among internal organic functions, (iii) physical features and (iv) psychological characteristics. We propose that two main axes in the physiopathology of SCM (food intake/waste discharge and consuming/storing Qi and body fluids) are equivalent to the process of internal-external exchange and catabolism/anabolism in modern physiology, respectively. We then used this hypothesis to discuss the physiological and pathological principles of SCM. Constitution-based medicine is based on the theory that some medicinal herbs and remedies are only appropriate for certain constitutions and can cause adverse effects in others. The constitutional approach of SCM share the same vision as tailored medicine; an individualized therapy that can minimize the risk of adverse reaction while increasing the efficacy and an individualized self-regulation that can help prevent specific susceptible chronic disease and live healthily. There is still a long way to this goal for both SCM and tailored medicine, but we may benefit from systems approaches such as systems biology. We suggest that constitutional perspective of SCM and our hypothesis of two main processes may provide a novel insight for further studies.
三一式体质医学（SCM）是一种独特的韩国传统替代医学疗法。它以阴阳学说和儒家思想为基础，将人类分为四种体质。这些体质在以下几个方面存在差异：（i）对某些草药和药物的敏感性；（ii）内部有机功能的平衡；（iii）身体特征；（iv）心理特征。我们提出，SCM 病理生理学的两个主要轴（饮食摄入/废物排泄和消耗/储存气和体液）分别相当于现代生理学中内外交换和分解代谢/合成代谢的过程。然后，我们用这个假设来讨论 SCM 的生理和病理原则。基于体质的医学基于这样一种理论，即某些草药和疗法仅适用于某些体质，而对其他体质则可能产生不良反应。SCM 的体质方法与量身定制的医学有相同的愿景；一种个体化的治疗方法，可以最大限度地降低不良反应的风险，同时提高疗效，以及一种个体化的自我调节，可以帮助预防特定的易患慢性疾病并健康生活。对于 SCM 和量身定制的医学来说，要实现这一目标还有很长的路要走，但我们可以从系统生物学等系统方法中受益。我们建议，SCM 的体质观点和我们的两个主要过程假设可能为进一步的研究提供新的见解。
