Archives

  • Step By Step
    Vol. 3 No. 2 (2024)

    Online publication happens in an instant. However, like the other case reports in Convergent Points, those in this current issue, "Step by Step," have been in progress for months or years. Please read them carefully and walk along with the authors as they show how in-depth understanding is compounded, treatment by treatment, word by word. 

    Concepts in "Zhen Wu Tang: A Case Report Unveiling The Lung-Gut Axis In Asthma Management Through Chinese Herbal Medicine" by Kitty Chan and Robert Hoffman spring from the earliest Chinese medical texts and, without seeming to strain, move to current pharmacological mechanisms. The case is a model for applying the classics to practice and scholarship.

    Also highlighting herbal approaches is a compelling account by Alison Loercher, “A Case Report of Burning Mouth Syndrome Treated with Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine.” This chronic condition, predominantly affecting postmenopausal women, often proves difficult to manage. Dr. Loercher's report details the successful treatment of a 61-year-old woman with BMS, a possible track for others to follow. 

    The final case in “Step by Step” is a detailed description of how acupuncture helped address the complex mental health challenges faced by one person. "Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Related Conditions Treated with Acupuncture, a Case Report” by Bonnie Sweetland documents significant improvements across multiple mental health indicators following eight sequential acupuncture appointments.

    In addition to publishing case reports, Convergent Points continues to work with investigators from Acu-Track and the Society for Acupuncture Research to advance a model for synthesizing real-world clinical data. By examining sets of case reports in the Convergent Points database and Acu-Track clinical registry entries, researchers are mapping patterns in practitioner decision-making and patient outcomes. Analysis of this pragmatic data aims to clear a path forward that is scientifically accurate and describes the terrain of traditional Eastern Asian medicine. As with published case reports, practitioners in everyday life are at the heart of this adventure. 

    But back to the step in front of us, I hope you enjoy the issue. 

    Kathleen Lumiere, Editor

  • Why Case Reports?
    Vol. 1 No. 1 (2022)

    Note from the Editor:

    "If you can't go to China and sit with a doctor for months on end, reading case studies is the next best thing." This quote by Sharon Weizenbaum, from this inaugural issue’s interviews conducted by Sarah Rivkin, captures one of the main purposes of Convergent Points. 

    Second to the journal’s goal of inspiring practitioners to read reports from their colleagues is inspiring practitioners to write. As you’ll see in the Rivkin interviews, and as case report writers usually attest, this kind of deep clinical reflection and articulation has abundant benefits. Depth of comprehension and connection can be felt in both case reports published this issue: one about a patient with late stage cancer by Shea Hunter Thompson and an account of a diabetic patient’s wound healing by Erin Stewart.

    We hope you get a lot out of these articles and those in the future. Many people worked hard to bring Convergent Points into being, and more than a few of us are excited. In addition to the authors, the scholar-clinicians, and the patients, a few people deserve special mention, ongoing appreciation, and probably food. These include our board members, David Riley, Lisa Taylor-Swanson, Lisa Price, Rosa Schnyer, Lisa Conboy, and Jacquelyn Burrell. The person who staggeringly, almost single-handedly built the site was DAOM candidate Michal Dabrowski. Catherine Vasco and Ariel Satcher helped set foundational pieces in place more than a year ago and have since been assisted by fellow DAOM students Brenda Loew, Tiffany Atkinson, and Kimarie Calhoun. John Ryan provided abundant support at all stages. Thanks to librarians extraordinaire Ekaterini Papadopoulou and Susan Banks for consultation. Thanks to many treasured colleagues for encouragement, Bastyr University for sponsorship and to Acorn Acupuncture and StradderHallett, CPAs for sponsorship as well. To be in such generous, curious, knowledgeable company is a joy.

    We look forward to hearing how you like the journal, and to reading your case reports!

    Kathleen Lumiere

  • Daily Practice
    Vol. 2 No. 1 (2023)

    Note from the Editor:

    Case report by case report, Convergent Points has made it to a year in publication!

    The success of this endeavor, made of small, consistent efforts over time, is exemplified in the dedication of the practitioners and patients featured in this issue. Each case report describes a challenging condition of long duration. Each course of treatment required the willingness to investigate, to attend deeply, and to adapt. 

    This approach is familiar to nearly any clinician in the field. Nonetheless, it is remarkable. It’s usually through mindful attention to the patient, the moment, and the practice that healing can be facilitated.

    That attention is apparent in the careful literature review done by Dr. Jennifer Taylor to learn more about possible therapies for her patient’s excruciating interstitial cystitis (IC), a disease she had suffered for decades. 

    Lyme disease, sometimes called “the great imitator” because of its wide range of signs and symptoms and misdiagnoses, is the very definition of a complex disorder. Through compassionate attention, Dr. Ashley Adams and her fellow authors Drs. Alyssa Hipple and S. Hunter Thompson untangled the patient’s presentation, provided effective care, and wrote a clear and rigorous report. 

    Insomnia for years is a nightmare. Dr. Laura King helped her patient find lasting, restorative sleep, as documented by herself and her co-authors, Erin Langley and Benjamin Monti.

    The characteristics of these conditions—the intense inflammation of IC, the changing patterns of Lyme disease, and the physiological need for sleep—all translate into daily clinical practices. It is by learning from each other, and taking things step by step, that we make progress.

    If writing a case report of your own is a goal, you may be interested in this online learning course available through the Society for Acupuncture Research, which offers other research learning opportunities as well. Here is the link: https://www.acupunctureresearch.org/case-reports.

    We at Convergent Points hope you’re inspired to take small, consistent actions in whatever art or discipline you practice!

    Kathleen Lumiere, DAOM, LAc

  • Body, Mind, Spirit
    Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024)

    Welcome to the Body, Mind, Spirit issue of Convergent Points!

    When we talk about the spirit in the context of health, it’s usually part of a holistic philosophy that also includes the body and mind. Physical health is fairly well understood; mental health is less so, although people feel, recognize, and respond to it. But what does it mean to have a healthy spirit? With a vast range of spiritual practices worldwide, coming to a shared understanding of spiritual well-being goes beyond any single tradition and is a singular challenge to scientific inquiry. 

    What we understand of the spirit comes through the body and its associated mind. In “Acupuncture Following Recovery From Guillain-Barré Syndrome, A Case Report,” Ning relates how this rare autoimmune condition can rob the body of nervous system function. It may be easy to imagine how that might feel, along with relief as the body heals.

    Aspects of mind—communication, emotional awareness, and self-control—are captured in Peacock’s “Acupuncture To Reduce Self-Injury Behavior In Pediatric Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Report.” This case describes the spirits of several organ systems in TCM and how they figured in diagnoses and treatment.

    Finally, this issue of Convergent Points addresses the spirit through collaboration in an exceptionally intense medical environment, namely, “Combined Acupuncture And Spiritual Care Treatments In An Acute Pain Service: Two Case Reports” by Garlough and Wahl. These cases reveal what is important to the patients and their caregivers and show outcomes that reflect improvement in a patient’s spirit that is understandable across medical perspectives. 

    With these three offerings, we hope you are inspired to think about what the health of the body, mind, and spirit means to you and those around you.

    Kathleen Lumiere, Editor

  • Clinical Complexity
    Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025)

    Editor's Note: 

    Dear Colleagues,

    Welcome to our current issue, Clinical Complexity. Practitioners intimately understand that the reality of clinical practice involves fluid, interwoven patterns that cannot be reduced to simple cause-and-effect. This complexity—in diagnosis, treatment strategies, and patient responses—has historically been captured through case reports, a tradition spanning over two millennia. The case reports published in Convergent Points are detailed, rigorous, and accurate enough to stand as part of a solid foundation of evidence. 

    A considerable strength of traditional East Asian medical (TEAM) systems is the ability to recognize patterns within complex or little-known conditions. Anita Tayyebi's case report on acupuncture for syringomyelia offers practical insights into treating similarly complex neurological symptomatology within an integrated medical framework.

    Sara Almaraz's detailed documentation of treating central serous chorioretinopathy with a combination of acupuncture, moxibustion, and Chinese herbal medicine demonstrates the interplay of multiple modalities in addressing a challenging ophthalmological condition.

    Finally, Maria Linder and Rhys May's collaborative report on electroacupuncture for post-stroke foot drop and pain illustrates how combining traditional principles with modern techniques can be of enormous and sometimes unexpected benefit, even 30 years after an original cerebral accident.

    Convergent Points exists to share the professional bounty that can be found in these detailed clinical narratives. However, we are also aware of the potential problem of making a broad generalization from an individual case. We are particularly excited to be collaborating on a research model that uses multiple sources of pragmatic data, such as case reports or clinical registries, for meaningful and statistically robust findings. A symposium on this collaborative project is scheduled for April 5th, 2025, at the International Society for Acupuncture Research's annual conference in Newport Beach, California. We hope you join us!

    As you explore this issue, we invite you to consider how clinical experiences might contribute to our growing body of knowledge. Every carefully documented case report adds to our collective understanding of TEAM's effectiveness in real-world settings.

    Thank you for your continued engagement with Convergent Points. Simply by reading, you are supporting thoughtful documentation and analysis of clinical practice in our field.

    Warm regards, 

    Kathleen Lumiere, DAOM, LAc, Editor 

  • Case Reports, Valuable at Every Level
    Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)

    Note from the Editor:

    This issue of Convergent Points, Case Reports, Valuable at Every Level, offers three examples of case reports from private practice. Bum Kil (BK) Lee, a first-time author and doctoral student, shares his successful treatment of menorrhagia and gives particular insight into the etiology of such cases. Dr. Catherine Vasco, who has been in practice for several years, describes the resolution of alopecia using a combination of acupuncture and herbs. Lastly, Drs. Christina Jackson and Jacqueline Bailey, who have over a quarter-century of experience each, share their findings from careful analysis of three high-risk pregnancies. Each of these reports makes contributions of real benefit—to their own understanding, to their patients, and now, to us, their colleagues. 

    The editorial board of Convergent Points is committed to building practice-based evidence and helping authors gain experience in writing case reports to the standards of the journal. To that end, Dr. David Riley, the originator of the CARE guidelines and one of our board members, is offering his CARE-writer courses at half-price to any author who submits a case report. In addition, after completing the two courses, an author may request to be mentored through a case report by one of our other rather amazingly accomplished board members.  

    This kind of support and generosity is everywhere in our, and allied, professions. I recall being mentored through my first article by Jennifer Stone and Lynn Eder, who published Meridians, also called the Journal of the American Society of Acupuncturists, for years. This is an opportunity to thank them for their massive contributions to publication in our field. I also want to thank Dr. Ed Chiu for his ongoing work on case reports and recommend his book. 

    Case reports have always been part of medicine. Now with standards such as the CARE guidelines, publishing, and educational support, they can help create an increasingly sturdy foundation of evidence to guide both practice and research. 

    Kathleen Lumiere

  • Gathering Evidence
    Vol. 2 No. 2 (2023)

    Thank you for reading! This issue contains stellar case reports: a timely account of treating long Covid brain fog with Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) by Ailin Fu and Ying Wang, a tricky case of long-standing insomnia by Tae Ho Kim, a report on acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy by return author Jennifer Taylor, and a two-case series on Bell’s palsy by Tifani Chang, Yun Xiao, and Sabrina Kao.

    Each of the above reports shows close attention to detail and accurate data, necessary for building evidence and challenging to do during a busy clinical day.

    We are always wondering how to make gathering data fit more seamlessly into the clinical encounter. Several important separate tools to help practitioners gather evidence recently converged and are unveiled in this issue.

    The CARE guidelines have been a general treasure for writing case reports to a high standard. Now, an international group led by Brigitte Linder is releasing guidelines specific to CHM case reports based on the work of practitioner focus groups and experts. We’re honored to share the first report from that research: a summary of findings and the resulting checklist.

    Also, we are excited to advance our database initiative. Now, individuals who submit their case reports for publication have the option to have their cases included in our database for case report research. This means that your valuable insights and experiences can contribute not only to the journal but also to a growing repository of knowledge. A consent form for database inclusion can be found in our Author Guidelines.

    Related to the database, we are so happy to announce a partnership with ACU-Track, a patient outcomes registry designed for acupuncture and traditional Eastern Asian medicine professionals. ACU-Track systematically records patient notes, tracks outcomes, and manages cases online. It can be used with other electronic health records systems while protecting patient privacy. This partnership offers clinicians a powerful means to enhance their practice while adding to evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture and Eastern Asian medicine.

    Our tools for gathering evidence continue to evolve. The contributions of clinicians, students, authors, investigators, readers, and partners shaped the current issue and will shape future issues and practice-based research. We look forward to receiving your contributions, whether in the form of case reports or inclusion in our database.

    Thank you for being a part of Convergent Points.

    Kathleen Lumiere, Editor