• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1279-1293
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• 2023

A 67-year-old female patient diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis visited our hospital in February 2023. Consultation papers indicated that she was diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis and that she complained of quadriparesis and numbness in both hands and feet. However, her spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) did not clearly indicate that she suffered from acute transverse myelitis. She was then sent to a high-level hospital and diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome through electromyography, cerebrospinal fluid test, and spine MRI. On March 2023, she visited our hospital again, still complaining about weakness in both hands and inability to walk. She was treated with Korean medicine, including acupuncture, electroacupuncture, pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine such as Yanggyeoksanhwatang and Sipimijihwang-tanggami. After three months, she was discharged on cane walking. The manual muscle test (MMT) grade of her upper limbs increased from 3-/3-/3-/3- (shoulder/elbow/wrist/fingers) to 4/4/4/3+, and the MMT grade of her lower limbs increased from 2/2/2/2 (pelvis/knee/ankle/feet) to 4/4/4-/4-. Her numbness in both feet disappeared, and her numbness in both hands decreased from a numeric rating scale of 7 to 2. No adverse events were reported during treatment. This case implies the therapeutic potential of Korean medicine for Guillain-Barre Syndrome, especially for those who had delayed diagnosis and missed the opportunity to get plasma exchange.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.954-961
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• 2006

As society ages, the seriousness of Parkinson's disease in the elderly increases. This study was performed in order to evaluate the effect of Korean medical treatments on Parkinson's symptoms. An elderly patient was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease by clinical symptoms, which were resting tremor, pill-rolling tremor and mild bradykinesia. We treated her disease with Korean medical treatment, including herbal medicine and acupuncture therapy and excluding western medication. For the herbal medicine, Insamyangyeong-tang (人參養榮湯), Bobi-tang (補脾湯), Dokhwaljihwang-tang (獨活地黃湯) and Sipimijihwang-tang (十二味地黃湯) were primarily used. In result, the clinical symptoms, measured by unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) and modified Hoehn and Yahr stage (H-Y stage), of Parkinson's disease in this patient had improved after the Korean medical treatment. This study suggests that Korean medical treatments can be applicable to improve symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease.