The Journal of Korean Medicine (대한한의학회지)

The Society of Korean Medicine (대한한의학회)
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Case Report for Severe Hepatitis A Treated in a Korean Hospital

  • Kim, Sul-Ki (Liver and Immunology Research Center, Dunsan Oriental Hospital of Daejeon Univ.) ;
  • Jeon, Cheon-Hoo (Department of Internal Medicine, Dunsan Oriental Hospital of Daejeon Univ.) ;
  • Lee, Nam-Heon (Liver and Immunology Research Center, Cheonan Oriental Hospital of Daejeon Univ.) ;
  • Cho, Jung-Hyo (Liver and Immunology Research Center, Dunsan Oriental Hospital of Daejeon Univ.) ;
  • Son, Chang-Gue (Liver and Immunology Research Center, Dunsan Oriental Hospital of Daejeon Univ.)
  • Received : 2020.12.16
  • Accepted : 2020.01.28
  • Published : 2020.12.01
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Abstract

A 25-year-old male presented with influenza-like symptoms and took Western anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs for 2 days. The symptoms aggravated, so the patient decided to rely on Korean medicine (KM). Based on the highly elevated hepatic enzymes (AST 4,621 IU/L and ALT 2,763 IU/L) with a positive result of anti-HAV IgM, he was diagnosed with hepatitis A. The patient was hospitalized and given herbal drugs (Chunggan-plus extract, Innae-Tang) and acupuncture, according to symptom differentiation, the accumulation of damp heat (濕熱蘊結)". The subjective symptoms (fatigue, nausea, gastric discomfort) including jaundice and dark urine as well as laboratory abnormalities gradually improved gradually in 10 hospital days, and the patient completely recovered in 25 days as an out-patient. This case presents a classic case of severe hepatitis A in 2019 Korean outbreak, and is informative to physicians for diagnosis and treatment in the traditional Korean medicine field.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2019R1A2C2088201).

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