• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.1418-1430
• /
• 2006

In the 18th century, Joseon and Japan corresponded politically and culturally through the Joseon Missionary. During this time, the people in Japan who received the Joseon Missionary left many records of their visits and among them were numerous accounts related to medicine, In the years 2003 and 2004, the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine gathered records that were dispersed throughout japan, and in 20005, it organized the information and put it up on the web along with the original text. This research is an overall report on the documentary records. It analyzes individual documents and looks into what the mainly interested the joseon and Japanese medical worlds at that time. The documents located up till now are 21 medical dialogue records from the 18th century. Through the process of these medical dialogues, the Joseon medical circle discovered a different side of japanese medicine, and the japanese medical world had a chance to directly receive advanced medical skills. Through these medical dialogues, the two countries also exchanged bountiful information about clinical patients. The japanese scholars showed deep interest in Joseon's ginseng, and asked many questions about practical usages of the contents in the medical documents. It is thought that these medical dialogue records will greatly assist studies on the medical history of this time, because it reveals new research data on Korean medical history and Japanese medical history in the latter half of the Joseon Dynasty that has never been reported in the academia before.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.361-373
• /
• 2011

1. Objectives: The purpose of this study was done to learn the Sasang constitutional distribution and to find out if there are differences in the type of diseases and symptoms according to the Sasang constitution in Japan. 2. Methods: We collected data from 366 patients who visited the Department of Oriental Medicine, Keio University and recruited 132 healthy persons in Tokyo, Japan. For sasang constitution diagnosis, they all have done SSCQ-P(Sasang Constitution Questionaire for Patients) questionnaire. and a sasang constitution specialist diagnosed the sasang constitution of them. And We classify the diseases and symptoms of 313 patients according to KCD(Korean Standard Classification of Diseases) and learn the prevalences of diseases and symptoms according to Sasang Constitution. 3. Results: 1) Among the total 498 subjects, distributional rate of Taeyangin, Soyangin, Taeeumin, and Soeumin were 2.0%, 26.3%, 29.9%, and 41.8%. Among the 366 patients, distributional rate of Taeyangin, Soyangin, Taeumin, and Soeumin were 0.8%, 27.3%, 28.7%, and 43.2%. Among the 132 healthy group, distributional rate of Taeyangin, Soyangin, Taeeumin, and Soeumin were 5.3%, 23.5%, 33.3%, and 37.9%. 2) The prevalences of 'V.Mental and behavioural disorders', 'XI.Diseases of the digestive system', 'XV.Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium' and 'feeling of coldness(X VIII.Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, NEC)' of Soeumin were significantly higher than those of the other constitutions.(p-value<0.05) 4. Conclusions: The distributional rate of Sasangin of Japanese was different from that of Korean and especially the distributional rate of Soeumin of Japanese was significantly higher than that of Korean. There were significant differences on the prevalences of some diseases and symtoms according to KCD in Soeumin.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.17-23
• /
• 2021

With the introduction of national health insurance, the burden of health care costs decreased and choices of medical services widened. However, because of the rapid expansion of non-covered medical services by health insurance, financial security for health care expenditure is still low. This gives patients barriers to choose medical services especially for non-covered medical services, and it becomes narrower. Compared to Korea, Japan has high financial protection in health care utilization, but there exists a limitation using covered and non-covered medical services both together. This is called a prohibition of mixed treatment in health care. This study reviews the Japanese health care system that limits choosing medical services and the burden of health care costs. The prohibition of mixed treatment can alleviate the out-of-pocket burden in the non-benefit sector, but it can be found that it has a huge limitation in that it places restrictions on choices for both healthcare professionals and patients.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2008

Purpose: For the first time, a nationwide survey of the Patterns of Care Study(PCS) for the various radiotherapy treatments of esophageal cancer was carried out in South Korea. In order to observe the different parameters, as well as offer a solid cooperative system, we compared the Korean results with those observed in the United States(US) and Japan. Materials and Methods: Two hundreds forty-six esophageal cancer patients from 21 institutions were enrolled in the South Korean study. The patients received radiation theraphy(RT) from 1998 to 1999. In order to compare these results with those from the United States, a published study by Suntharalingam, which included 414 patients[treated by Radiotherapy(RT)] from 59 institutions between 1996 and 1999 was chosen. In order to compare the South Korean with the Japanese data, we choose two different studies. The results published by Gomi were selected as the surgery group, in which 220 esophageal cancer patients were analyzed from 76 facilities. The patients underwent surgery and received RT with or without chemotherapy between 1998 and 2001. The non-surgery group originated from a study by Murakami, in which 385 patients were treated either by RT alone or RT with chemotherapy, but no surgery, between 1999 and 2001. Results: The median age of enrolled patients was highest in the Japanese non-surgery group(71 years old). The gender ratio was approximately 9:1(male:female) in both the Korean and Japanese studies, whereas females made up 23.1% of the study population in the US study. Adenocarcinoma outnumbered squamous cell carcinoma in the US study, whereas squamous cell carcinoma was more prevalent both the Korean and Japanese studies(Korea 96.3%, Japan 98%). An esophagogram, endoscopy, and chest CT scan were the main modalities of diagnostic evaluation used in all three countries. The US and Japan used the abdominal CT scan more frequently than the abdominal ultrasonography. Radiotherapy alone treatment was most rarely used in the US study(9.5%), compared to the Korean(23.2%) and Japanese(39%) studies. The combination of the three modalities(Surgery+RT+Chemotherapy) was performed least often in Korea(11.8%) compared to the Japanese(49.5%) and US(32.8%) studies. Chemotherapy(89%) and chemotherapy with concurrent chemoradiotherapy(97%) was most frequently used in the US study. Fluorouracil(5-FU) and Cisplatin were the most preferred drug treatments used in all three countries. The median radiation dose was 50.4 Gy in the US study, as compared to 55.8 Gy in the Korean study regardless of whether an operation was performed. However, in Japan, different median doses were delivered for the surgery(48 Gy) and non-surgery groups(60 Gy). Conclusion: Although some aspects of the evaluation of esophageal cancer and its various treatment modalities were heterogeneous among the three countries surveyed, we found no remarkable differences in the RT dose or technique, which includes the number of portals and energy beams.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.98-103
• /
• 2014

Objectives: Advanced malignant melanoma (MM) has a poor prognosis, with an expected 2-year survival rate of 10 to 20%. It has long been recognized as an immunogenic tumor, and is worse for elderly patients. Many studies have suggested that herbal treatments improve immune functions, but few clinical studies have reported on this topic. Patients and History: We present two cases of female patients (72 and 77 years old, respectively) with advanced MM. The 72-year-old female patient was, at first, diagnosed with MM with multiple bone metastases. She received resection of the primary lesion, but refused further chemotherapy. The 77-year-old female patient was diagnosed with cutaneous MM of the left heel, with suspicion of sentinel node lymphadenopathy; however, she also refused any conventional treatment due to old age. Course of Therapy and Results: Both patients were exclusively treated with standardized allergen-removed Rhus verniciflua stokes (aRVS) extract combined with Bojungikki-tang (BT, Bu-Zhong-Yi-Qi-Tang in Chinese or Hochu-ekki-to in Japanese). Both patients are still alive and doing well (Feb. 2014), demonstrating that the 72-year-old patient has lived for 27 months and the 77-year-old patient has lived for 31 months without disease progression since the aRVS and BT administration. Conclusion: We suggest that the combination of aRVS extract and BT could be a candidate for overcoming the cancer's immunoediting process especially for elderly MM patients intolerant of conventional treatment.

• Proceedings of the KSLP Conference
• /
• 1996.11a
• /
• pp.88-88
• /
• 1996

본 연구목적은 한국어판 실어증감별진단검사를 이용하여 2회 이상 경과를 검토할 수 있었던 Broca실어의 3증례에 있어서의 개선경과를 초회평가시의 실어증 중등도가 거의 같은 일본의 장기 관찰예와 비교하여 장애 pattern의 검출 및 개선경과의 추적에 있어서의 한국판 실어증 감별진단검사의 유효성을 검토하였다. 그 결과, 신경학적으로 안정되어있는 실어증환자의 경우 중증도별로 보면, 언어과정 전반의 득점 profile은 유사성이 높았으며, 치료경과에 양국어의 일반성과 특수성이라고 하는 면에서는 금후 한층 더 상세한 토의가 요구되었다.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.335-341
• /
• 2010

Objective : Anterior cervical corpectomy with fusion (ACF) or laminoplasty may be associated with substantial number of complications for treating multilevel cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) with significant cord compression. For more safe decompression and stabilization in multilevel cervical OPLL with prominent cord compression, we propose circumferential cervical surgery (selective ACF and laminoplasty) based on our favorable experience. Methods : Twelve patients with cervical myelopathy underwent circumferential cervical surgery and all patients showed multilevel OPLL with Signal change of the spinal cord on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A retrospective review of clinical, radiological. and surgical data was conducted. Results : There were 9 men and 3 women with mean age of 56.7 years and a mean follow up period of 15.6 months. The average corpectomy level was 1.16 and laminoplasty level was 4.58. The average Japanese Orthopedic Association score for recovery was 5.1 points and good clinical results were obtained in 11 patients (92%) (p < 0.05). The average space available for the cord improved from 58.2% to 87.9% and the average Cobb's angle changed from 7.63 to 12.27 at 6 months after operation without failure of fusion (p < 0.05). Average operation time was 8.36 hours, with an estimated blood loss of 760 mL and duration of bed rest of 2.0 days. There were no incidences of significant surgical complications, including wound infection. Conclusion : Although the current study examined a small sample with relatively short-term follow-up periods, our study results demonstrate that circumferential cervical surgery is considered favorable for safety and effectiveness in multilevel OPLL with prominent cord compression.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.359-367
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study sought to identify potential candidates for adjuvant radiotherapy and patterns of regional failure in patients who underwent curative-intent surgery for gallbladder cancer. Materials and Methods: Records for 70 patients with gallbladder cancer who underwent curative resection at a single institution between 2000 and 2016 were analysed retrospectively. No patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. Initial patterns of failure were evaluated. Regional recurrence was categorized according to the definitions of lymph node stations suggested by the Japanese Society of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery. Results: Median follow-up was 23 months. Locoregional recurrence as any component of first failure occurred in 29 patients (41.4%), with isolated locoregional recurrence in 13 (18.6%). Regional recurrence occurred in 23 patients, and 77 regional recurrences were identified. Commonly involved regional stations were #13, #12a2, #12p2, #12b2, #16a2, #16b1, #9, and #8. Independent prognostic factors for locoregional recurrence were ${\geq}pT2$ disease (hazard ratio [HR], 5.510; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.260-24.094; p = 0.023) and R1 resection (HR, 6.981; 95% CI, 2.378-20.491; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Patients with pT2 disease or R1 resection after curative surgery for gallbladder cancer may benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy. Our findings on regional recurrence may help physicians construct a target volume for adjuvant radiotherapy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.226-229
• /
• 2013

Prolonged air leakage is a major cause of morbidity in pneumothorax. When conservative management is not effective, surgery should be performed. However, surgery is not appropriate in patients with low pulmonary function. In these patients, occlusion of the airway with endobronchial blockers may be attempted under bronchoscopy. We treated two patients with prolonged air leakage using endobronchial Watanabe spigots under fibrobronchoscopy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.4357-4361
• /
• 2012

Objective: The guidelines on indications for prophylactic use of Bacille Calmette-Gu$\acute{e}$rin (BCG) against non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) have changed over the years. In order to assess the impact on outcome, the present retrospective comparison of BCG efficacy by time period with Japanese patients was conducted. Patients and Methods: A total of 146 cases of NMIBC treated with BCG since February 1985 were retrospectively evaluated. All patients received 80 mg of BCG (Tokyo 172 strain) six to eight times a week for prophylactic use. Comparison was made among three historical groups (Group A: 1980's, 39 cases; Group B: 1990's, 61 cases; Group C: 2000's, 46 cases). Results: In total, recurrence was seen in 55 of the 146 cases (37.7%), and progression in 14 (9.6%), 1 patient dying of cancer. These overall results were similar to those outlined in previous reports. However, the outcomes of this time-period-based analysis indicated a tendency for a shorter time to recurrence in patients after 2000, although a log-rank test showed no significance (P=0.229). Seven of the cases featuring progression (i.e., half of all such cases) were among the 46 Group C patients (15.2%). Excluding these progressive cases, there was no significant difference among the remaining 132 patients in the three groups. Conclusion: This study results revealed a tendency for a lower non-recurrence rate after 2000 in our series. This could stem from a number of factors, including changes in BCG indication criteria and the evolution of histopathological diagnostic criteria.