Tu Bie Chong

Tu Bie Chong is the dried body of the female ground beetle Eupolyphaga sinensis Walker or Steleophaga plancyi (Bolivar) (Corydiidae/Polyphagidae), wingless cockroach-like insects native to China that live in dark, damp soil under stones and around old walls. The females are collected in summer, killed in boiling water, and dried whole. The body contains a complex of proteins, amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, and fibrinolytic peptides; modern research has confirmed anticoagulant and thrombolytic activity. In traditional Chinese medicine, Tu Bie Chong is salty, cold, and slightly toxic, entering the liver channel; it breaks up blood stasis, knits broken bones and reduces swelling, and dissipates abdominal masses, used for traumatic injury with fractures, post-traumatic stasis, amenorrhea from blood stasis, and palpable abdominal masses. Contraindicated in pregnancy.