Clinical Concrescences

Abstract This article explores ethnographic and historical dimensions of the treatment of pathological growths identified as zhengjia 癥瘕 (abdominal accumulations of stagnant blood and qi) in contemporary Chinese medical gynecology. In clinics, physicians consult ultrasounds and blood tests alongside Chinese-medical diagnostics; in published case studies, they identify commonalities between zhengjia and biomedical disease entities like uterine fibroids to articulate treatment rationales. These strategies of integration and translation enable them to negotiate relationships of difference and similitude between biomedicine and Chinese medicine in clinical action. Zhengjia as pathological bodily entities concresce through this process, creating new – though limited – therapeutic possibilities.