shǔ lòu
Also rendered: Rat fistula (literal, and it keeps the image) · Scrofulous fistula (clinical, and it is an identification) · Rat-burrow sore (vivid, and not a term)
Reviewed · 2026-10-25
At a glance
The running sore of the neck and axilla, classed in this chapter with 寒熱瘰癧 and traced to cold and heat toxin lodged in the vessels and not removed. Its root, the chapter says, is in the depots; its branch comes up into the neck and axilla. Treatment follows that anatomy — draw from the root, lead out the branch, let it decline and cut off the cold and heat. Prognosis is by the eye: turn the eye and look for red vessels running up and down through the pupil; one vessel means death in a year, and more means sooner.
Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.
Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.
| This site | rat fistula | the name as the text gives it |
| Literal | rat leak | exact, and it sounds like plumbing |
| Clinical | tuberculous cervical fistula | clear, and interpretive |
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