• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.105-116
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• 2009

The use of acupuncutre has been increased worldwide, and large number of researches on acupuncture with improved quality has been conducted. Nevertheless, results of acupuncture treatment in those research tend to show mixed results, while many patients continuously seek acupuncture treatment as an adjuvant or alternatives for their health. Researchers and clinicians relevant to acupuncture are faced at this problematic discrepancy between the results of acupuncture in clinical trial including an randomized controlled trial and those of day-to-day clinical practice. The methodology of pragmatic clinical trial seems to be one of the promising research tools administering this problem especially in the area of complementary alternative medicine and traditional Korean medicine. In this study we first reviewed articles on the pragmatic clinical trial, summarized the essential concepts of 'explanatory' clinical trial 'pragmatic' clinical trial and then presented recent recommendations and arguments on this issue. We also analyzed and compared two similar pragmatic clinical trial protocols to show the readers the complexity of research designing. We hope more researchers in traditional Korean medicine will be interested in the methodology of pragmatic clinical trials and this study will serve to produce various high-quality clinical trials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.57-74
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• 1997

To make a proposal for the revision of KGCP, ICH Harmonized Tripartite Guideline for Good Clinical Practice, which is on the stage of worldwide implementation, was compared with current GCPs of tripartite countries of ICH, namely USA, Europe and Japan as well as Korea. On the basis of the classification in ICH GCP, comprehensive comparisons among the corresponding articles of 4 regions or countries were made in the order of IRB / IEC, Investigator, Sponsor and Clinical Trial Protocol. Based on the comparisons of the contents in ICH-GCP with those in current GCPs, major suggestions for the revision of current KGCP can be made as follows. Firstly, the function of IRB / IEC needs to be strengthened for the initiation and continuation of clinical trial. Current 2-step approval system of IRB / IEC and Health Authorities requires to be converted into the system similar to that of developed countries. Secondly, sponsor's obligation needs to be tightened to control and assure the quality of clinical trial. Inspection of regulatory authorities should be made to perform during and / or after clinical trial, when it is necessary. In other words, sponsor should be made to establish written Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all aspects of clinical trial including monitoring to ensure that trials are conducted and data are generated, documented, and reported in compliance with the protocol, GCP, and the applicable regulatory requirement (s). Besides, the provision of ‘Quality Control and Quality Assurance’ should be added to the protocol to establish the credibility of the result of the clinical trial.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.329-336
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• 2011

The purpose of Phase I clinical trial is to identify the maximum tolerated dose with specific toxicity rate. The standard TER design does not guarantee the pre-specified toxicity rate. It depends on the dose-toxicity curves. Therefore it is necessary to check the expected toxicity rate of various dose-toxicity curves before we conduct clinical trials. We developed TERAplusB library to help this situation, especially in cancer research. This package will help design the cancer clinical trial. We can compare the expected toxicity rates, the expected number of patients, and the expected times calculated with various dose-toxicity curves. This process will help find the best clinical trial design of the proposed drug.

• The Journal of KAIRB
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2023

Purpose: To obtain fundamental data on selection tools for an internal audit and develop a new guideline. We scored the indicated points from the internal audit, identified the research progress and problems that occurred, and confirmed the validity of the risk factors involved. Methods: Of the 63 internal audits conducted by Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital from 2014 to 2021, we analyzed 55 clinical trials with an inspection checklist. We excluded 8 that failed to transfer data and refused to comply with the internal audit. The statistical summary of the collected data was verified and interpreted by using frequency analysis and a chi-square test. Result: Of total 55 cases included in the internal audit, sponsor-initiated trial (SIT) was 63.6% (vs. investigator-initiated trial [IIT]), clinical trial for investigational drug was 71.0% (vs. nonclinical or clinical trial for investigational device), domestic multicenter trial was 60.0% (vs. single center or multinational multicenter trial), and trial requisition for MFDS approval was 69.1% (vs. exception for MFDS approval). The 10 areas of the clinical trial inspection checklist (reports, protection of subjects, compliance with protocols, records, management of investigational drug and/or device, delegation of duties, qualification of investigators, management of specimen, contract-agreement and approval of protocols, and preservation of recorded documents) were weighted between 2 to 5 points. The average of the total points was 16.09±13.2 and 20 clinical trials were above the average. As a result of comparing the average of the total points weighted by year, the highest score was in 2020. The 4 factors that play significant roles in determining the internal quality were (1) principal subjects that initiated the clinical trials (p=0.049), (2) type (p=0.003), (3) phase of clinical trials (p=0.024), and (4) number of registered subjects reported at the time of continuing deliberation (p=0.019). Of the 10 areas of the clinical trial inspection checklist, 'record' was the most inappropriate and insufficient. We found more indicated points; the quality of performance declined in IIT, nonclinical trials, and other clinical trials that were not in phase I1-IV4, and the study of more than 30 registered subjects at the time of continuing review. Conclusion: If an institution has an internal audit selection tool that reflects the aforementioned risk factors, it will be possible to effectively manage high-risk studies; thereby, contributing to an efficient internal audit and improving the quality of clinical trials.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.211-237
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• 2014

Because of unpredictability and high possibility of abnormal results by clinical trials compared to general medical behaviors, a procedure for ensuring with sufficient explanations by investigators must be secured. Therefore, in a sequence of clinical trials, what kinds of scope, stage, and method of explanations provided by investigators, including doctors or researchers, to trial subjects are closely related to the compensation for damages by violation of liability for explanation. In case of application of clinical trials to patients who have critical illness such as cancer, issues of "Quality of Life" regarding trial subjects, cancer patients, should be discussed. Especially, in case of clinical trials for terminal cancer patients, the right of subjects' self-determination, which is a fundamental principle in medical behaviors, should be discussed. The right of self-determination includes participation in clinical trials for the possibility of life-sustaining even a little bit, or no participation in clinical trials in order to have a time for completing the rest of his life. Like this, if the extent and scope of explanations related to the issues of "Quality of Life" are raised as main issues, the evaluation of "Quality of Life", should be a prerequisite. In many occasions, realistically, despite bad results such as deaths or serious adverse drug reactions after clinical trials, it may not be easy for compensating to trial subjects or their survivors, who requested civil compensation for damage. Futhermore, in abnormal results after concealment of clinical trials or performance of clinical trials without permission, and in the case of trial subjects' failures of proving proximate cause between the clinical trials and abnormal results, problematic results such as no protection to the trial subjects could be occurred. In performing clinical trials, investigators should provide sufficient explanations for trial subjects and secure voluntary informed consents from the trial subjects. Therefore, clinical trials without trial subjects' permissions and the informed consent process violate trial subjects' rights of self-determination, and the investigators shall be liable for compensation for damages. Then, issues might be addressed are what are essential contents of patients' "rights of self-determination" infringed by clinical trials without subjects' permissions. Two perspectives about patients' rights of self-determination might be considered. One perspective regards physical distress of patients (subjects) from therapies without sufficient explanations as the crux of the matter. The other perspective regards infringement of human dignity caused by being subjects without permission as the crux of the matter irrespective of risks' big and small influences. This research follows perspective of the latter. Forming constant fiduciary relation between investigators (doctors) and subjects (patients) pursuant medical contracts, and in accordance with this fiduciary relation, subjects, who are patients, have expectations of explanations and treatments by the best ways. If doctors and patients set this forth as a premise, doctors should assume civil liability when doctors infringe patients' expectations.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.104-117
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• 2013

Objective : The aim of this review is to development of clinical trial protocol for against cosmetics as a treatment of dry skin condition. Methods : We searched the literature from 2002 through April 2012 using 5 databases. We included randomized controlled trials(RCTs) in which human participants with dry skin condition as chief complaint were treated with cosmetics. The methodological quality of all RCTs was using the Jadad score. Results : Nine RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Cosmetic types included cream (7 trials), lotion (1 trial), oil (1 trial) and body wash (1 trial). The methodological quality of the trials was generally low (Jadad score: mean 1.78; range, 1 to 3). Conclusions : The evidence for cosmetics as an effective treatment for dry skin condition(xerosis) is currently scarce and of poor quality, and is therefore inconclusive. More rigorous studies are warranted.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.124-142
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aimed to learn what should be considered in [Guideline of Clinical Trial with Herbal Medicinal Product for Gastric Cancer)] by analyzing the existing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods: The development committee searched guidelines for herbal medicinal product or gastric cancer developed already. Then, clinical trials for gastric cancer using herbal medicine were searched. The searched trials were analyzed in terms of inclusion and exclusion of participants, intervention, comparator, outcomes and trial design. Then, we compared the results of analysis with the regulations and guidelines of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to suggest the issue that we will have to consider when making the [Guideline of Clinical Trial with Herbal Medicinal Product for Gastric Cancer]. Results: As a result, few guidelines for anti-tumor agent and clinical trial with herbal medicinal product were searched in the national institution homepage. In addition, 10 articles were searched by using the combination following search term; 'stomach neoplasm', 'herbal medicine', 'Medicine, Korean traditional', 'Medicine, Chinese Traditional', 'TCM', 'TKM', 'trial'. Most trials included gastric cancer participants with medical history of operation. The type of intervention was various such as decoction, granules, and fluid of intravenous injection. Comparators were diverse such as placebo, conventional treatment including chemotherapy and nutritional supplement. The most frequently used outcome for efficacy was quality of life. Besides, the symptom score, tumor response, and survival rate were used. Safety was investigated by recording adverse events. Conclusion: We found out some issue by reviewing the existing guidelines and comparing it with clinical trials for gastric cancer and herbal medicinal products. These results will be utilized for developing [Guideline of Clinical Trial with Herbal Medicinal Product for Gastric Cancer].

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.11-21
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• 2015

Objectives : To improve quality of clinical research for acupuncture and moxibustion, a guideline for clinical research protocol is needed. While developing a guideline for acupuncture and moxibustion clinical research, we reviewed the ethical and scientific aspects of protocols pointed out by the institutional review board. This will offer practical assistance to the researchers. Methods : Ethical and scientific aspects of acupuncture and moxibustion research protocols reviewed by Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital Institutional Review Board were gathered and reviewed. Results : Ethical and scientific aspects of protocol review was reported. Conclusions : The example of review will be helpful for new researchers when developing acupuncture and moxibustion clinical research protocol.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.86-109
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• 1995

Clinical trials of drugs on humans is the final and most important stage in evaluating the safety and efficacy of the drugs. Good Clinical Practice(GCP) standards were announced in 1987 to protect testees' rights as well as to ensure validity of the clinical trial results, but its implementation has been delayed until now. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the preparedness of the designated institutions to abide by GCP standards during clinical trials, and thereby to determine GCP implementability at the institutions. Survey on the status of clinical trials was conducted for the designated 83 clinical trial hospitals. Response rate was 95.2%. Donabedian's quality assessment model was applied as the basic framework for the study. And the relative - weights for the evaluation items were determined by expert's evaluation. Among the designated 83 hospitals, 39 conducted clinical trials to obtain drug manufacturing approval from 1990 to 1994. Only 19 institutions are found to be able to meet the requirements of KGCP. Structure variables - manpower, organization, and facility -, which are the basic elements for GCP, are evaluated as unsatisfied in many hospitals. Institutions which established IRB accounted for 41 or 51.9%, but those who have a protocol evaluation guideline, or Adverse Drug Reaction(ADR) reporting system were only 12 and 21 institutions, respectively. Also, the institutions providing educational programs on conducting clinical trials are few - 20. The study results indicates that the level of conducting KGCP is unsatisfactory. However, more institutions are expected to be able to meet the standards soon because GCP standards does not require so much regulation on facilities, but stress importance on research methodology and human right. At present as the institutions for clinical trials are primarily training hospitals with residency programs, such efforts as education will accelerate the implementability of GCP in Korea. Institutions must build the appropriate infrastructure and government must prepare to strongly enforce KGCP before it can successfully take place.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2007

Purpose: This master‘s thesis to evaluate the grade of life after medication a Dangguijakyak-san(pasabu) and Gyejibongnyeong-hwan(cheongwal) with in postmenopausal women get lowering quality of life caused by vasomotor symptoms with hot flush. Methods: A subject who signing on the clinical trial written consent by self-will is registered this clinical trial after decided suitable by selection and exception standard, after take a medical experiment and checkup according to clinical trial plan. Registered subject should valuated by settled schedule after take the testing medicine 1,2 during thirty-day. In this period, a subject allocated at relatively better suited experimental group by oriental doctor after consideration of general efficacy and nature of a medicine at second visiting. Results: The result of comparison in the remedial value with sixteen patients who ended the experiment is like next list. 1. There's no regarded difference of comparison in general conditions between two patient groups. 2. There's no regarded difference during observation period before take medicine. 3. By period of measurement, there's something regarded differences most of patients of two parts after taking medicine. 4. There's no regarded difference at alteration phase of each standard according to kind of medicine. 5. There's no abnormal views reflected at allergy, Laboratory and Physical Examination during experiment. Conclusion: This experiment evidence a Dangguijakyak-san and Gyejibongnyeong-hwan can help for improvement generally life quality of postmenopausal women and certify safety of herbs.