• 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 Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.15-21
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the current trends in research on pharmacopuncture in Korea since 2007. Methods: A literature review was performed by using the search engines 'Science and Technology Society Village', 'Korean Studies Information Service System', 'National Discovery for Science Leaders', and 'Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System' in Korea from January 2007 to December 2013. Searched key words were 'pharmacopuncture', 'herbal acupuncture', 'aqua-acupuncture', and 'bee venom'. Finally, we selected 457 papers, including Korean experimental studies and clinical studies. Selected papers were classified according to year of publication, type of pharmacopuncture, disease & topic, research type and the publishing journal. Results: One hundred fifty pharmacopunctures were studied in 457 papers. Single compound pharmacopuncture was the most studied pharmacopuncture in experimental studies while animal-based pharmacopuncture was the most studied pharmacopuncture in clinical studies. Bee venom placed first among the various pharmacopunctures, followed by placenta, sweet bee venom, mountain-ginseng, and anti-inflammatory pharmacopunctures. Experimental research on pharmacopuncture has fallen since 2007 when 55 papers were published. However, clinical research has been increasing steadily. In clinical studies, case reports were numerous than randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Musculoskeletal diseases were the most frequently-treated diseases in studies on pharmacopuncture; among the musculoskeletal diseases, rheumatoid arthritis was the most frequently-treated disease in experimental studies and low back pain was the most frequently-treated condition in clinical studies. Since 2007, 45 different journals have published studies on pharmacopuncture, with the Journal of the Korean Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine Society having the largest number of papers on pharmacopuncture and the Journal of Pharmacopuncture the second largest number. Conclusion: The trends in research on pharmacopuncture published in studies from 2007 to 2013 were similar to those in studies published before 2006. Many studies on pharmacopuncture focused on bee venom and musculoskeletal diseases. Additional studies on diverse types of and indications for pharmacopuncture are needed.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.148-159
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• 2007

Purpose: Vasomotor symptoms including hot flash are very common to postmenopausal women. Estrogen therapy was regarded as the best option for relieving menopausal symptoms until 2002, when the Women#s Health Initiative(WHI) reported the side effect of the therapy. Consequently, studies on the complementary and alternative medical herbs and therapy for the management of menopausal symptoms have followed. And so we have reviewed some international clinical studies about the management of postmenopausal symptoms with acupuncture therapy. Methods: "Menopause and acupuncture" was designated as a key word in the search site. Pub Med, and nine papers dealing with hot flash among the relevant RCTs were selected, and then, the effect of acupuncture on hot flash and the way the researches had been done was examined. Results : The intensity of hot flash reduced significantly and the frequency of hot flash was inclined to reduce, but not significantly, compared to the controlled group. Conclusion: Each clinical test has its limitations in point of the number of the required samples. However, it still shows the possibility that acupuncture itself will be effective enough to reduce the intensity of hot flash to a certain degree. It is believed that extensive clinical tests on the effect of acupuncture on hot flash will need to be done hereafter. And when the tests are carried out, it is required to exclude placebo effect, do blind test, and carefully select and control the methods.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6679-6683
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• 2014

Background: Carcinoid crisis is a life-threating syndrome of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) characterized by dramatic blood pressure fluctuation, arrhythmias, and bronchospasm. In the era of booming anti-tumor therapeutics, this has become more important since associated stresses can trigger carcinoid crisis. Somatostatin analogues (SSTA) have been recommended for prophylactic administration before intervention procedures for functioning NETs. However, the efficacy is still controversial. The aim of this article is to review efficacy of SSTA for preventing carcinoid crisis. Materials and Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Controlled trials Register, and EMBASE were searched using 'carcinoid crisis' as a search term combining terms with 'somatostatin'; 'octreotide'; 'lanreotide' and 'pasireotide' until December 2013. Results: Twenty-eight articles were retrieved with a total of fifty-three unique patients identified for carcinoid crisis. The most common primary sites of NETs were the small intestine and respiratory tract. The triggering factors for carcinoid crisis included anesthesia/surgery (63.5%), interventional therapy (11.5%), radionuclide therapy (9.6%), examination (7.7%), medication (3.8%), biopsy (2%) and spontaneous (2%). No randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified and two case-control studies were included to assess the efficacy of SSTA for preventing carcinoid crisis by meta-analysis. The overall pooled risk of perioperative carcinoid crisis was similar despite the prophylactic administration of SSTA (OR 0.44, 95% CI: 0.14 to 1.35, p=0.15). Conclusions: SSTA wasnot helpful for preventing carcinoid crisis based on a meta-analysis of retrospective studies. Attentive monitoring and careful intervention are essential. Future studies with better quality are needed to clarify any effect of SSTA for preventing carcinoid crisis.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 2014

Objectives The aim of this study is to analyze the therapeutic effect of external Qigong therapy for treatment of other people's disease on joint pain. Methods We searched articles from Pubmed, Chinese Academic Journals (CAJ) and Oasis online databases. Searching keywords were 'external qigong', 'external qi gong', 'qi therapy', '外气', '关节' and '기공'. After searching the articles, we performed quality assessment using Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool and risk of bias assessment tool for non-randomized study (RoBANS). Results Among the 117 articles were searched, 2 randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) and 2 single-group before and after studies were finally selected. All of 4 studies showed that external Qigong therapy has significant effect on joint pain. Conclusions Although external Qigong therapy has therapeutic effect on joint pain, it is not common therapy yet. However, external Qigong therapy requires more interests and studies in the future, because it is faithful therapy for Korean medicine theory.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.11-19
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• 2017

Objectives We attempted to investigate the trends of Korean Medical treatments for neck pain caused by whiplash injury by analyzing domestic clinical studies. Methods We searched for studies listed on Korean electronic databases (KTKP, OASIS, RISS, KMbase, NDSL, KCI, and National Assembly Library). Clinical studies were chosen according to the inclusion criteria. Subsequently, we compared and analyzed the data. Results The search yielded 35 studies, of which there were 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 15 non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs), 6 case reports, and 2 before-after studies. Among these, 54.7% of participants were in the acute stage of the damage period. Pharmacopuncture was used the most in main treatment methods. Only 14.3% of studies mentioned approval by an institutional review board (IRB) and only 8.6% of studies considered side effects. Conclusions There is some evidence that Korean Medical treatment is effective for neck pain caused by whiplash injury. Since all studies, however, were exposed to the risk of bias. Therefore, future studies of a higher quality are required.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this review is to investigate the trends of Traditional Korean Medicine treatments on degenerative knee arthritis. Methods : We investigated the studies on traditional Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) treatments for degenerative knee arthritis via searching 5 Korean web databases. Results : 31 research papers were found to be analyzed according to their published year, the titles of journals, published institution, the types of study, the number of cases, the types of treatments. 31 papers were published since 1992. The studies on TKM treatments about degenerative knee arthritis were mainly published in The journal of korean acupuncture & moxibustion medicine. 13 Randomized Controlled Trials, 10 Case series, 4 Reviews, 3 Non RCTs, and 1 Case Report had been under research. In 22 cases of the studies, one method was used to treat the symptoms. Whereas in 5 cases of the studies, various TKM treatments were used to treat the symptoms. Visual analogue score(VAS) and patient's subjective complaints were used as primary assessments. Conclusion : In this study, we analyzed the trends of TKM treatments on degenerative knee arthritis. Reviewing the domestic trends of studies on Traditional Korean Medicine treatments on degenerative knee arthritis and examining the strong and weak points of those treatments are essential for the further studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2049-2053
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• 2016

Background: The LigaSure vessel sealing system has been proposed to save operation time and reduce intraoperative blood loss for various surgeries. However, its usage for gastric cancer is still controversial. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to compare the effectiveness of LigaSure with conventional surgery in gastrectomy. Materials and Methods: Sources were retrieved from the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS and Google Scholar until February, 2015. All randomized controlled trials comparing LigaSure with conventional surgery in curative gastric cancer resection were selected. After data extraction, statistics were performed by Review Manager 5.1 software. Results: Three eligible randomized controlled trials were evaluated, with a total of 335 patients. The quality of the included trials was good, yet some methodological and clinical heterogeneity existed. There were no significant differences between the LigaSure and conventional groups in operative time (weighted mean difference [WMD], -22.95 minutes; 95% confidence interval [CI], [-59.75, 13.85]; P = 0.22), blood loss (WMD, -45.8 ml; 95% CI, [-134.5, 42.90]; P = 0.31), nor the incidence of surgical complications (odds ratio, 1.18; 95% CI, [0.68, 2.05]; P = 0.54). But there was a longer duration of hospital stay in LigaSure group (WMD, 1.41 days; 95% CI, [0.14, 2.68]; P = 0.03). Conclusions: All available randomized evidence has been summarized. LigaSure does not confer significant advantage over conventional surgery for curative gastric cancer resection. The usefulness of the device may be limited in gastrectomy. But, more trials are needed for further assessment of the LigaSure system for gastric cancer.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.108-120
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• 2016

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate Korean clinical studies on treatment of childhood obesity and to propose for better treatment options for childhood obesity. Methods Based on RISS, KISS, OASIS, KMbase with the keyword 'childhood obesity', 'child obesity', 'obese child', 'overweight child', total of 21 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 11 single clinical studies, 3 chart reviews and 3 case reports have been found, and were analyzed. Results and Conclusion 1. Some study subjects were classified based on their sex - only men or women in a group or sometimes both. Another way of classify the study subjects were based on their age - preschooler, primary school students, middle school students, and high school students. The diagnostic criteria of the subjects were BMI (body mass index), Body fat percentage, Obesity index, Weight and unknown criteria. 2. The treatments used in 38 studies were exercise alone, education alone, both exercise and education or herbal therapy. The 7 studies that used herbal therapy as part of their study intervention had a study group with herbal intervention only and the other 2 study group with herbal treatment in addition to exercise and education. 3. 9 studies included herb medicines, electroacupuncture, auricular acupuncture, cupping, aroma massage, infrared light, and abdomen pad. Herb medications used in 5 studies included Chegameuiin-tang 2 kinds, Sobieum, Biman-tnag, and I-razin. 4. The methods of assessment used in 38 studies were classified by 7 categories and anthropometry parameters which is the basic methods are used in all studies 5. Almost studies (29 studies in all 38 studies) were using anthropometric parameters results on significantly effectiveness of childhood obesity. 6. More studies are needed to prove true effectives from various treatments, especially herbal therapy for childhood obesity.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze clinical studies on effectiveness of herbal medicine in refractory nephrotic syndrome (RNS). Methods We searched the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with herbal medicine treatment on RNS from the Pubmed, CNKI, OASIS, NDSL, J-stage, and CiNii. The demographic data, duration of illness, intervention, treatment period, outcome, adverse events, and composition of herbal medicine were analyzed for this study. Results 11 RCT studies were selected and analyzed. The children in the control group were given western medicine therapy, and the treatment group was given herbal medicine along with the same western medicine of the control group. The most commonly used herbal medicines were the prescriptions to treat 'Kidney Deficiency with Blood Stasis (腎虛兼瘀血)' which composed of 'Promoting blood circulation (化瘀)', 'Diuresis-inducing (利水)', or 'Heating Yang (溫陽)' medicine based on 'Replenishing Kidney or Spleen (補腎, 補脾)' medicine. In the treatment group, proteinuria and serum lipid was significantly decreased, serum albumin was significantly increased, and total effective rate was significantly higher than the control group. Hypercoagulation and relapse rate was also significantly reduced. Adverse events were significantly lower in the treatment group. Conclusions Herbal medicine treatment on pediatric RNS can be suggested as a new treatment for children who have less response to the conventional therapy. It can also supplement the limitations of the western medicine by reducing adverse events from the steroids and immuno-suppressive agents, and lower the relapse rate as well.