• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.309-319
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• 2007

Chest pain is classified into two major categories of cardiac chest pain and non-cardiac chest pain. Cardiac chest pain is caused by cardiovascular disease, for example, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, valvular heart disease, cardiac enlargement or hypertrophy, dissecting aortic aneurysm, pericarditis, myocarditis, etc. When the chest pain is not attributed to heart disease, it is termed non-cardiac chest pain. Non-cardiac chest pain is caused by pulmonary, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal disease, psychiatric factor, etc. In tills case, we treated a 54-year old female patient who was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and suspicious sick sinus syndrome. She complained of chest pain, exertional dyspnea, dizziness and headache. For treatment, we made use of Yugultangami(六鬱湯加味) and Daejobwan(大造丸). Before and after treatment, we measured Heart rate variability(HRV). In result, the clinical symptoms were improved and there was a significant increase in assessmeut by Heart rate variability(HRV). Tills result suggests that Yugultaugami aud Daejowhan have a good effect on cardiac chest pain.

• The Journal of the Society of Stroke on Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

■ Objectives The purpose of this study is to report the effectiveness of Korean medicine in the treatment of non-cardiac chest pain. ■ Methods The patient with non-cardiac chest pain was treated with herbal medicine, Insambaekhaokwanjung-tang, and Jungsongouhyul pharmacoacupuncture. The severity of symptom was assessed by daily chest pain frequency, Numerical Rating Scale(NRS) of chest pain. ■ Results After the treatment, the severity of chest pain was reduced from NRS 9 to NRS 0 and the palpitation intensity was reduced from 9 to 0. The chest pain frequency was reduced from 7 to 0. In addition, other symptoms such as anorexia, sleep disturbance, and fatigue have shown improvements. ■ Conclusion The findings of this study suggests that treatment with Korean medicine can be an effective option in treating non cardiac chest pain.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.1223-1230
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• 2020

Objective: The purpose of this study was to report the effectiveness of Korean medicine (Beewha-eum) on the treatment of non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) in a patient with non-erosive reflux disease (NERD). Methods: The patient was diagnosed with a spleen-stomach weakness pattern identified by Korean medicine and was treated with herbal medicine (Beewha-eum). The severity of symptoms was assessed with a numerical rating scale (NRS) for chest pain, self-reported dyspepsia degree (%), Korean gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (KGSRS), gastrointestinal symptom score (GIS), and Functional Dyspepsia-Quality of Life(FD-QOL) score. Results: After Beewha-eum treatment, the severity of chest pain was decreased from NRS 8 to NRS 0 and the self-reported dyspepsia degree also decreased from 100% to 65%. The KGSRS score was decreased from 49 to 35, the GIS score was also decreased from 16 to 9, and the FD-QOL score was increased from 20 to 25. Conclusions: The study findings suggested that Korean medical treatment with Beewha-eum could be an effective option for treating NCCP in patients with NERD.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.88-95
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• 2015

Background: Patients suffering from non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) can interpret their chest pain wrongly despite having received a correct diagnosis. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of the relaxation method with metaphor therapy for reducing irrational beliefs and pain severity in patients with NCCP. Methods: Using a randomized controlled trial, 33 participants were randomly divided into a relaxation training group (n= 13), a metaphor therapy group (n = 10), and a control group (n = 10), and were studied for 4 weeks. The two tools used in this research were the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) index for determining the degree of pain and the short version of the Jones Irrational Belief Test. Metaphor therapy and a relaxation technique based on ${\ddot{O}}$st's treatment were used as the interventions. The collected data were analyzed with a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), a Chi-square test, and the Bonferroni procedure of post-hoc analysis. Results: The relaxation training method was significantly more effective than both metaphor therapy and the lack of treatment in reducing the patients' beliefs of hopelessness in the face of changes and emotional irresponsibility, as well as the pain severity. Metaphor therapy was not effective on any of these factors. In fact, the results did not support the effectiveness of metaphor therapy. Conclusions: Regarding the effectiveness of the relaxation method as compared with metaphor therapy and the lack of treatment in the control group, this study suggests that relaxation should be paid greater attention as a method for improving the status of patients. In addition, more studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of metaphor therapy in this area.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.277-279
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• 2016

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.417-426
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• 2021

Background: Non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) is a common patient complaint imposing great costs on the healthcare system. It is associated with psychological factors such as depression. The aim of the present study is determining depression predictors in NCCP patients. Methods: The participants of this cross-sectional study were 361 NCCP patients. Patients filled out questionnaires concerning their sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical factors (severity of pain, type D personality, somatization, cardiac anxiety, fear of body sensations, and depression). Results: Based on multiple ordinal logistic regression, lack of physical activity (odds ratio [OR], 1.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-2.87), sleep quality (OR, 2.98; 95% CI, 1.15-7.69), being a smoker (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 2.41-4.03), present pain intensity (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.05-1.11), type D personality (OR, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.47-4.03), and somatization (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.15-1.3) were significant predictors of depression in NCCP patients. Additionally, multiple linear regression showed that being unmarried (β = 1.51, P = 0.008), lack of physical activity (β = 1.22, P = 0.015), sleep quality (β = 2.26, P = 0.022), present pain intensity (β = 0.07, P = 0.045), type D personality (β = 1.87, P < 0.001), somatization (β = 0.45, P < 0.001), and fear of bodily sensation (β = 0.04, P = 0.032) increased significantly depression scores in NCCP patients. Conclusions: Physicians should consider the predictors of depression in NCCP patients which can lead to receiving effective psychological consultations and reducing the costs and ineffectual referrals to medical centers.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2001

The enzyme activities of creatine kinase (CK), its isoenzyme MB (CK-MB) and of lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 (LD-1) have been used for years in diagnosing patients with chest pain in order to differentiate patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from non-AMI patients. These methods are easy to perform as automated analyses, but they are not specific for cardiac muscle damage. During the early 90's the situation changed. First, creatine kinase ME mass (CK-MB mass) replaced the measurement of CK-MB activity. Subsequently cardiac-specific proteins, troponin T (cTnT) and troponin I (cTnI) appeared and displacing LD-1 analysis. However, troponin concentrations in blood increase only from four to six hours after onset of chest pain. Therefore a rapid marker such as myoglobin, fatty acid binding protein or glycogen phosphorylase BB could be used in early diagnosis of AMI. On the other hand, CK-MB isoforms alone may also be useful in rapid diagnosis of cardiac muscle damage. Myoglobin, CK-MB mass, cTnT and cTnI are nowadays widely used in diagnosing patients with acute chest pain. Myoglobin is not cardiac-specific and therefore requires supplementation with some other analyses such as troponins to support the myoglobin value. Troponins are very highly cardiac-specific. Only the sera of some patients with severe renal failure, which requires hemodialysis, have elevated cTnT and/or cTnI without there being any evidence of cardiac damage. The latest studies have shown that elevated troponin levels in sera of hemodialysis patients point to an increased risk of future cardiac events in a similar manner to the elevated troponin values in sera of patients with unstable angina pectoris. In addition, the bedside tests for cTnT and cTnI alone- or together with myoglobin and CK-ME mass can be used instead of quantitative analyses in the diagnosis of patients with chest pain. These rapid tests are easy to perform and they do not require expensive instrumentation. For the diagnosis of patient with chest pain, routinely myoglobin and CK-ME mass measurements should be performed whenever they are requested (24 h/day) and cTnT or cTnI on admission to the hospital and then 4-6 and 12 hours later and maintained less than 10% in imprecision.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.283-295
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• 1999

Background: Patients with acute non-traumatic chest pain are among the most challenging patients for care by emergency physicians, so the correct diagnosis and triage of patients with chest pain in the emergency department(ED) becomes important. To avoid discharging patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI) without medical care, most emergency physicians attempt to admit almost all patients with acute chest pain and order many laboratory tests for the patients. But in practice, many patients with non-cardiac pain can be discharged with simple tests and treatment. These patients occupy expensive intensive care beds, substantially increasing financial cost and time of stay at ED for the diagnosis and treatment of myocardial ischemia and AMI. Despite vigorous efforts to identify patients with ischemic heart disease, approximately 2% to 5% of patients presented to the ED with AMI and chest pain are inadvertently discharged. If the cause for the chest pain is known, rapid and accurate diagnosis can be implemented, preventing wastes in time and money and inadvertent discharge. Methods and Results: The medical records of 488 patients from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1997 were reviewed. There were 320(angina pectoris 140, AMI 128) cases of cardiac diseases, and 168(atypical chest pain 56, pneumothorax 47) cases of non-cardiac diseases. The number of associated symptoms were $1.1{\pm}0.9$ in non-cardiac diseases, $1.4{\pm}1.1$ in cardiac diseases and $1.7{\pm}1.1$ in AMI(p<0.05). In laboratory finding the sensitivity of electrocardiography(EKG) was 96.1%, while the sensitivity of myoglobin test ranked 45.1%. Admission rate was 71.6% in for cardiac diseases and 50.6% for non-cardiac diseases(p<0.01). Mortality rate was 8.8% in all cases, 13.8% in cardiac diseases, 0.6% in non-cardiac diseases, and 28.1% especially in AMI. Conclusion: In conclusion, all emergency physicians should have thorough knowledge of the clinical characteristics of the diseases which cause non-traumatic chest pain, because a patient with any of these life-threatening diseases would require immediate treatment. Detailed history on the patient should be taken and physical examination performed. Then, the most simple diagnostic approach should be used to make an early diagnosis and to provide treatment.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2011

Objectives : There has been substantial evidence that patients with chest pain have depression and anxiety, and show impaired quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to campare the QoL according to types of chest pain and to examine the impact of depression and anxiety on QoL in patients with chest pain. Methods : Forty-seven patients with chest pain were divided into Cardiac-Typical Chest Pain (CTCP, n=22) and Non-Cardiac-Atypical Chest Pain groups (NCACP, n=25) according to the pain characteristics and cardiovascular disease. Patients were assessed for depression using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), for anxiety using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and QoL was assessed using the Korean version of the SmithKlein Beecham 'Quality of Life' Scale (KvSBQOL). Results : Compared with the CTCP group, the NCACP group reported significantly higher anxiety, and lower QoL. There was no significant difference in QoL between the two groups after adjusting for anxiety. The QoL was associated with depression and trait-anxiety in the CTCP group, and with trait-anxiety in the NCACP group. Conclusion : The findings suggest that there are different effects of depression and anxiety on QoL in individuals with CTCP and NCACP. Understanding about these differences can be important in the treatment of patients with chest pain. A large prospective study is needed to confirm these results.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2006

Objectives : Non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) can be divided into gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) related NCCP and non-GERD related NCCP. Our study was designed to examine the differences in clinical characteristics and psychological mood states between the two clinical syndromes. Methods : After some cardiologic evaluations such as treadmill exercise, coronary angiography, and echocardiography, 27 patients with NCCP were enrolled in this study. They were divided into patients with GERD related NCCP (12 patients) and those with non-GERD related NCCP (15 patients) using the upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and the ambulatory 24 hour esophageal pH monitoring. Clinical characteristics such as typical reflux symptoms and psychological mood states were measured. Patients who showed scores more than 10 on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) or Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were defined as depressed or anxious group. Anxiety sensitivity Index (ASI) was also measured in all patients. All parameters were compared between patients with GERD related NCCP and those with non-GERD related NCCP. Results : The two groups showed a difference in typical reflux symptoms. Patients with non-GERD related NCCP had higher scores on the BDI, BAI and ASI than those with GERD related NCCP. Among all NCCP patients, 14 patients (51.9%) were suggested to have possible depression or anxiety disorders. Conclusion : The non-GERD related NCCP was shown to be associated with psychological mood states such as anxiety and depression. Thus, we suggest that routine measurement of psychological mood states should be necessary in the evaluation and treatment of NCCP.