Full-cycle management, syndrome differentiation, and treatment of breast cancer from the perspective of "six differentiation" thinking in traditional Chinese medicine clinical practice

Breast cancer is a highly representative intractable disease among malignant gynecological conditions in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In the syndrome differentiation and treatment of this disease, TCM demonstrates unique advantages featuring holistic nourishment and individualized intervention. The proposal of "six differentiation" thinking—disease, syndrome, symptom, pathogenesis, constitution, and qi differentiation—is an innovative exploration of the systematic diagnosis and treatment mode of breast cancer in TCM. Disease differentiation determines the direction, syndrome differentiation grasps the core, symptom differentiation observes the details, mechanism differentiation elucidates the evolution, body differentiation knows the advance and retreat, and qi differentiation adjusts the overall situation. The six differentiations are linked to form a logical chain of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment of precise positioning-dynamic regulation-overall balance, which not only conforms to the essential characteristics of malignant tumors as complex system diseases but also responds to the dual demands of modern medicine for precision and individualization. It aims to construct a paradigm framework for diagnosing and treating TCM tumors, thereby providing theoretical support for promoting the collaborative innovation of traditional Chinese and western medicine and improving the full-cycle management efficiency of breast cancer.