Mongolian traditional style blood-letting therapy: a brief introduction

Mongolian traditional style blood-letting therapy (MTSBLT) has been one of the most widely used traditional medicinal treatment modalities in Mongolia. Currently, the practice is widely used for hypertension, neck pain, headache, chronic hepatitis, ophthalmic or skin diseases and infectious diseases in Mongolia and China. Further studies concerning the mechanism and clinical application of the MTSBLT are needed for TCM practitioners to apply it in their own clinical practice and in order to expand the scope of TCM. MTSBLT is methodologically very different from the traditional Chinese-style blood-letting or wet-cupping. Although MTSBLT may be used as part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment, this paper offers an introduction to MTSBLT.