Diagnosis Protocol of Uterine Warm and Cold Temperament in Persian Medicine: A Qualitative study

Introduction: Uterus is an important female organ with duty of purifying blood and carrying fetus. Recognition of uterine temperament is necessary for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this organ diseases in Persian Medicine (PM). Many gynecologic disorders including infertility, oligomenorrhea, amenorrhea, hypermenorrhea, vaginitis, cervicitis, urinary incontinency and pelvic pains are related to uterine distemperaments. Therefore appropriate treatment of them needs accurate uterine temperament determination and treatment of temperamental disorders. Criteria using for uterine temperament determination in PM resources are all somehow qualitative with no precise quantification. This study is going to build a standard diagnostic protocol for recognition of uterine temperaments and distemperaments for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Methods: This original article is a Concept Analysis Qualitative Study with hybrid method and includes three phases: theoretical, fieldwork, and analysis. In theoretical phase, resources of PM were reviewed. In fieldwork phase, experts of PM and patients were interviewed to collecting symptoms of uterine temperaments and distemperaments. Results: After analysis of 1st and 2nd phases of hybrid method, we came on major and minor criteria for determination of uterine temperament, then several expert pannels took place with PM experts in order to build the protocol. Eventually the standard diagnostic protocol of warm and cold uterine temperaments and distemperaments was made. Conclusion: The stated protocol has an important role in standardizing the diagnosis and treatment methods of PM experts and also can be used in every day treatment as well as research purposes.