• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.299-308
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• 2020

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Chuna therapy for Sciatica. We searched the following 16 online databases without a language restriction (Pubmed, Cochrane, Embase, CINAHL, Ovid, Kmbase, RISS, NDSL, OASIS, KISS, KNAL, KTKP, DBpia, CNKI, Wangfang, J-stage) to find randomized controlled clinical trials that used Chuna therapy for Sciatica. The methodological quality of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) were assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and meta-analysis were performed. Among 496 articles that were searched, 15 RCTs were finally selected for systematic review. 14 studies showed that Chuna therapy has positive effect on sciatica. Two studies noted that there were side effects, and the difference between the intervention group and the control group was statistically insignificant. One study noted no side effects and the rest of the study, there was no mention of side effects. Meta-analysis showed positive results for Chuna single therapy in terms of efficiency rate compared to painkiller, herb medicine excepting acupuncture. When comparing Chuna therapy plus acupuncture and acupuncture, Chuna therapy plus acupuncture had a more positive result than acupuncture in terms of efficiency rate. Cochrane Risk of Bias (RoB)evaluation method, most of the studies's selection, performance, detection and reporting bias were unclear. The studies showed that Chuna therapy can significantly effective on sciatica. However, most of the studies's Risk of Bias included in the analysis were not low enough. In the future, to prove the level of evidence of Chuna therapy, more high-quality studies will be needed.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.46-61
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this systemic review is to overview and evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in female patients with chronic constipation. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of the literature to identify randomized controlled trials that investigated the effects of acupuncture on female patients with chronic constipation. Key words searched included "Female Constipation", "Women Constipation", "Acupuncture" in database KISS, DBPIA, RISS, Cochrane Central, Scopus, Pubmed, CNKI. Results: Nine randomized controlled trials met our inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Our analysis found that acupuncture was associated with significant improvements in spontaneous bowel movements, complete spontaneous bowel movements, stool consistency, and quality of life in female patients with chronic constipation. Acupuncture was generally well-tolerated, with few adverse effects reported. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that acupuncture treatment would be effective way to treat chronic constipation of female patients.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1197-1211
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• 2023

Objectives: This study presents evidence by analyzing the research trends in acupuncture treatment for cluster headache in the last 10 years. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about acupuncture for cluster headache were searched from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, ScienceON, Korean Studies Information Service System, and Research Information Sharing Service. The search terms were the combinations of "cluster headache", "acupuncture", and "needle therapy", and the articles were restricted to those published between 2013 and 2023. Only RCTs were selected. The risk of bias (RoB) was assessed according to the revised Cochrane RoB2 criteria. Results: Six RCTs were selected and analyzed in this review. All selected studies were conducted in China. All RCTs comprised 628 participants. Manual acupuncture was used in all studies. Acupuncture targeting the sphenopalatine ganglion was performed in two papers published after 2020. ST8, Ex-HIN3, and GB14 were the most frequently used acupoints in acupuncture treatment. The most commonly used indicators for evaluation were headache attack frequency, clinical efficacy, and the visual analog scale. In each study, adding acupuncture treatment to conventional therapy had significant effects in relieving the symptoms of cluster headaches. Conclusion: The results suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for cluster headache. To ensure objective evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in cluster headache, it is important to continue large-scale case reports and RCTs.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.138-150
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• 2013

Objectives: To observe randomized controlled trials(RCTs) related to investigating the effects of acupoint treatments on nausea and vomiting in pregnancy to establish the basis of korean medical treatments, and suggest the problems of future clinical research. Methods: After searching for national and international papers published after 2000 and restricting the parameters to 'clinical trial', 'controlled clinical trial', 'randomized controlled trial', then comparing the subjects, methods, research tools, and results to understand the effects and re-comparing the conflicting results to assume the cause. Results: Of the 9 research papers that applied acupressure, four of them used control and experimental groups, and three(75%) research papers indicated significant reduction in vomiting and nausea, and of the seven research papers that utilized the experimental and placebo groups, five(71.4%) reported significant reducing effects. Of the four research papers the used acupuncture treatments, four research papers using control and placebo groups, two showed improvements in symptoms but did not have significant results compared to sham acupuncture groups, and two showed significant reduction of symptoms compared to the control groups. The one research paper that used electrical stimulation showed significant results in the reduction of vomiting and nausea compared to the control group. Conclusions: Acupressure and electrical stimulation showed efficacy reducing the symptoms. Acupuncture treatments did not indicate efficacy some experiments. Therefore it is thought that future acupuncture treatments should use methods that resemble actual clinical medicine to establish efficacy to produce significant results.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.401-410
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was intended to review the research trends of treating neuropsychiatric diseases and symptoms with Traditional Chinese Medicine containing Haematitum. Methods: Articles were obtained through the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) by searching with 'Haematitum' as the main key word, and supportive words related with neuropsychiatric diseases and symptoms were selected. There were 61 articles related to clinical fields, which were then classified according to study design. Results: The 61 articles were categorized into the following types of study design: 3 randomized controlled trials, 1 quasi-randomized trial, 3 simple-designed clinical trials, and 54 case studies. Decoctions containing Haematitum were used to treat diseases and symptoms such as vertigo, headache, stroke, epilepsy, neurosis, globus hystericus, fishbilepoisoning, insomnia, mania, post-traumatic brain syndrome, and kinesia. All articles reported a good rate of effectiveness. There was no poor responsiveness regarding the effects of Haematitum in 9 studies, but it was not mentioned in the other 52 studies. Decoctions self-prepared by the authors were used in 28 studies. Modified Seonbokdeja-tang, modified Banhabeakchulcheonma-tang, modified Ondam-tang were used in that order of frequency. The daily dosage of Haematitum provided was 0.2~6 g in powder, and 9~60 g in decoction. Conclusions: Decoctions containing Haematitum are used restrictively in the neuropsychiatric clinical scene. While there were no reports of poor responsiveness of the effects of Haematitum, more research is needed to confirm its clinical stability.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 2020

Objectives: The aim of this review is to ascertain whether Bojungikgi-tang and its modifications is more effective than non-specific management in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Methods: We collected clinical trials to investigate the effects of Bojungikgi-tang and non-specific management on general symptoms, fatigue, and sleep quality in CFS patients. The databases used for data retrieval were Pubmed, Central Cochrane, CNKI, VIP, CiNii, OASIS, RISS, and Koreamed. We performed selection/exclusion process from the found records according to prespecified criteria, and assessed the final included trials according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool. The included studies were classified on the basis of interventions in experimental group. Results: Seven randomized controlled trials (476 participants) were eligible and their results were synthesized in the meta-analysis. The synthesis showed a substantial effect of Bojungikgi-tang (relative risk 0.20 [95% CI 0.13 to 0.31], Z=7.44, P<0.00001; I²=0%) and combination of Bojungikgi-tang and Sosiho-tang (relative risk 0.15 [95% CI 0.08 to 0.28], Z=5.85, P<0.00001; I²=0%) compared with non-specific management on improvement of general symptoms. However, we could not find sufficient clinical research records to determine their effects of improvement on fatigue and sleep quality. Conclusions: Bojungikgi-tang and its modifications are more effective than non-specific management for improvement of general symptoms in CFS post-treatment.

• Integrative Medicine Research
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.195-219
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• 2015

Acupuncture therapy has been proved to be effective for diverse diseases, symptoms, and conditions in numerous clinical trials. The growing popularity of acupuncture therapy has triggered the development of modern acupuncture-like stimulation devices (ASDs), which are equivalent or superior to manual acupuncture with respect to safety, decreased risk of infection, and facilitation of clinical trials. Here, we aim to summarize the research on modern ASDs, with a focus on featured devices undergoing active research and their effectiveness and target symptoms, along with annual publication rates. We searched the popular electronic databases Medline, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science, and analyzed English-language studies on humans. Thereby, a total of 728 studies were identified, of which 195 studies met our inclusion criteria. Electrical stimulators were found to be the earliest and most widely studied devices (133 articles), followed by laser (44 articles), magnetic (16 articles), and ultrasound (2 articles) stimulators. A total of 114 studies used randomized controlled trials, and 109 studies reported therapeutic benefits. The majority of the studies (32%) focused on analgesia and pain-relief effects, followed by effects on brain activity (16%). All types of the reviewed ASDs were associated with increasing annual publication trends; specifically, the annual growth in publications regarding noninvasive stimulation methods was more rapid than that regarding invasive methods. Based on this observation, we anticipate that the noninvasive or minimally invasive ASDs will become more popular in acupuncture therapy.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1-19
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture for women with overactive bladder (OAB) comparing with sham- acupuncture, and electroacupuncture plus drugs. Methods: We searched 8 databases upto May 26, 2020. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible. The risk of bias was assessed by two independent authors using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Study outcomes were calculated by standardized mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (Cls) and mean differences (MD) with 95% Cls. Results: Of 146 screened, 5 RCTs were included. Number of participants per study ranged from 5 to 57. The combined results showed that electroacupuncture (EA) may be more effective than sham acupuncture or enhance solifenacin succinates in improving Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) and urination frequency of 24 h. However, more trials with high quality and larger sample sizes will be needed to provide sufficient evidence. Only 5 of 187 OAB patients from the included studies reported mild adverse reactions related to EA, therefore, electroacupuncture is safe for treating OAB. Conclusions: Electroacupuncture might have effect in decreasing urination frequency of 24 h and OABSS. However, the evidences ins in sufficient to show the effect using electroacupuncture alone or additional effect to drugs in treating OAB.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.1-19
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• 2017

Objectives : This study aimed to validate the effect of herbal medicine intervention to relieve the symptoms of psoriasis using systematic review and meta-analysis and provide the newest reason of effectiveness of Korean medicine to psoriasis. Methods : Data were collected through electronic database including Pubmed, Cochrane CENTRAL, NDSL OASIS, Koreantk. Two experts assessed risk of bias of randomized controlled trials by Cochrane group's Risk of Bias tool after searching, reviewing and selecting papers. Data were analyzed using Review Manager(RevMan) 5.3 and Comprehensive Meta Analysis 2.0. Results : Total number of selected trials was 16 randomized controlled trials. This study evaluated the risk of bias and effectiveness of herbal medicine to psoriasis. There were high frequency uncertain in selection bias, performance bias and detection bias. In this meta-analysis, Korean medicine treatment was more effective than western medicine (ES:0.507, 95%CI:0.147-0.867) and placebo (ES:0.955, 95%CI:0.598-1.312). Conclusions : Herbal medicine intervention can be an effective for treatment in psoriasis. But enhancing levels of evidence, we must try to accumulate clinical researches of herbal medicine to psoriasis in Korea.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to examine pharmacopuncture treatment for lateral epicondylitis, and to contribute to developing a standardized treatment regimen by reviewing trends in clinical trials. Five randomized controlled trials, 1 case-control study, and 8 cohort studies published after 1999, that involved pharmacopuncture for lateral epicondylitis, were selected from Korean and international online databases (n = 8). The type of pharmacopuncture, dose, frequency, efficacy, and adverse events were analyzed. Seven types of pharmacopuncture were used, namely Bee Venom, Illicium henryi Diels, Akebiae Caulis, Angelicae sinensis Diels, Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort, Hominis Placenta, and Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix. Dose, treatment duration, and treatment frequency varied widely. One study assessed the treatment efficacy according to frequency. Nine studies lacked data on adverse events. The quality of 5 randomized controlled trials was low. Although pharmacopuncture treatment appeared to be effective for lateral epicondylitis, it was difficult to standardize the regimen for lateral epicondylitis.