• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.455-474
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that applied herbal medicine to treat viral hepatitis B and C in order to determine the therapeutic efficacy of herbal medicine. EMBASE, Pubmed, NDSL, KMBASE, KISS, KISTI, Koreamed, Koreantk, and Oasis databases were searched to identify RCTs. The selected studies were assessed by the Cochrane group's risk of bias tool. A total of 15 RCTs were selected, and the hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA reduction was significantly higher in patients treated with herbal medicine combined with Western medicine than in patients treated with herbal medicine. Herbal medicine combined with Western medicine was also superior to Western medicine alone in achieving hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg) and alanine aminotransferase [ALT] reduction. Only herbal medicine alone was not superior to Western medicine treatments in achieving HBV DNA, HBeAg, and ALT reduction.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.96-120
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• 2023

Objectives: This study reports the findings that support the efficacy of herbal medicine (HM) for premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Methods: We conducted meta-analysis of findings from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for PMS treated with HM. The articles were published before July 2022, located using 9 databases (Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, CNKI, CiNii, SCIENCE ON, KoreaMed, OASIS). Results: We observed 2,034 studies, of which 23 RCTs met our inclusion criteria. The risk of bias in the included studies was relatively unclear or high. Meta-analysis of 3 RCTs showed that HM group had a significantly higher total effective rate than the western medicine group (RR 1.20 [95% CI 1.06, 1.36, p=0.004]). Meta-analysis of 1 RCT showed that HM group had a significantly lower symptom score (MD -3.04 [95% CI -5.36, -0.72, p=0.01]), while there was no significant difference in daily record of severity of problems scale (MD -20.52 [95% CI -49.33, 8.29, p=0.16]). Conclusions: HM significantly improved PMS symptoms than general treatment and no serious adverse events were reported. However, the evidence on the effectiveness and safety of HM for PMS was not enough to provide reliable results due to the small number and low quality of included studies. We believe that rigorous RCTs will lead to more reliable evidence of the intervention.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.488-509
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• 2021

Purpose: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a chronic syndrome accompanied by repetitive digestive symptoms that appear in the upper gastrointestinal tract and are not caused by specific diseases. Psychological symptoms like anxiety, depression, insomnia, and somatization are frequently observed in FD. The purpose of this study was to review the effect of herbal medicine on the psychological symptoms that accompany FD. Methods: Database search (PubMed, EMBASE, KISS, Kmbase, KoreanMed, NDSL, OASIS, CNKI) was performed on February 24, 2021; a total of 1825 studies were searched. After the screening, 22 studies were included. Results: The studies were assessed by Cochrane RoB 2 and sorted into a table according to psychological symptoms. Meta-analysis was performed to estimate the effect of herbal medicine. Twenty of the twenty-two studies reported that herbal medicine was significantly more effective than the control group. Only three of the studies did not have a high risk of bias. Conclusion: Herbal medicine was significantly effective with or without Western medicine and had fewer adverse effects. Severe adverse effect was not reported. Psychological symptoms in FD affect onset and duration of FD, and some FD patients want to be treated for their anxiety before other symptoms. Reliable information about treatment for the psychological symptoms of FD is lacking. We reviewed the effect of herbal medicine treatment in this study, the results of which could be selected for primary or secondary treatment for FD.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.116-126
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• 2020

This study analyzed the effects of auricular acupressure on improving sleep disorders of the elderly. The data was collected from domestic and foreign databases. The keywords were 'auricular,' 'sleep,' 'insomnia, and so on. RoB and RoBANS were used to evaluate the risk of bias in the selected literature. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. Seven of 386 studies were selected. Regarding the sleep score, those studies with an intervention period of less than four weeks showed WMD of 25.66 (95% CI; 20.18 to 31.14), which was significantly higher than that of the control group. Similarly, the studies with an intervention period longer than four weeks had significantly higher WMD than that of the control group, and the former exhibited WMD of 8.59 (95% CI: 6.26 to 10.92). In contrast, sleep satisfaction was significantly higher in the studies with a maintenance period of three days or less, which resulted in SMD of 13.37 (95% CI: 5.29 to 21.45). The score in the studies with a maintenance period longer than four days was significantly higher than that of the control group with SMD of 2.27 (95% CI: 1.82 to 2.72). Auricular acupressure was effective in alleviating sleep disorders among the elderly in terms of both sleep quality and sleep satisfaction.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.539-548
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• 2022

Objective : Although full-endoscopic lumbar interbody fusion (Endo-LIF) has been tried as the latest alternative technique to minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interobody fusion (MIS-TLIF) since mid-2010, the evidence is still lacking. We compared the clinical outcome and safety of Endo-LIF to MIS-TLIF for lumbar degenerative disease. Methods : We systematically searched electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library to find literature comparing Endo-LIF to MIS-TLIF. The results retrieved were last updated on December 11, 2020. The perioperative outcome included the operation time, blood loss, complication, and hospital stay. The clinical outcomes included Visual analog scale (VAS) of low back pain and leg pain and Oswestry disability index (ODI), and the radiological outcome included pseudoarthosis rate with 12-month minimum follow-up. Results : Four retrospective observational studies and one prospective observational study comprising 423 patients (183 Endo-LIF and 241 MIS-TLIF) were included, and the pooled data analysis revealed low heterogeneity between studies in our review. Baseline characteristics including age and sex were not different between the two groups. Operation time was significantly longer in Endo-LIF (mean difference [MD], 23.220 minutes; 95% confidence interval [CI], 10.669-35.771; p=0.001). However, Endo-LIF resulted in less perioperative blood loss (MD, -144.710 mL; 95% CI, 247.941-41.478; p=0.023). Although VAS back pain at final (MD, -0.120; p=0.586), leg pain within 2 weeks (MD, 0.005; p=0.293), VAS leg pain at final (MD, 0.099; p=0.099), ODI at final (MD, 0.141; p=0.093) were not different, VAS back pain within 2 weeks was more favorable in the Endo-LIF (MD, -1.538; 95% CI, -2.044 to -1.032; p<0.001). On the other hand, no statistically significant group difference in complication rate (relative risk [RR], 0.709; p=0.774), hospital stay (MD, -2.399; p=0.151), and pseudoarthrosis rate (RR, 1.284; p=0.736) were found. Conclusion : Relative to MIS-TLIF, immediate outcomes were favorable in Endo-LIF in terms of blood loss and immediate VAS back pain, although complication rate, mid-term clinical outcomes, and fusion rate were not different. However, the challenges for Endo-LIF include longer operation time which means a difficult learning curve and limited surgical indication which means patient selection bias. Larger-scale, well-designed study with long-term follow-up and randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm and update the results of this systematic review.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

Objectives: Postoperative pain is one of postoperative complications in patients with solid tumor. This systematic review and meta-analysis were aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for postoperative pain in solid tumor. Methods: We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using acupuncture for postoperative pain in adult patients with solid tumor up to September 2016. Acupuncture was defined as manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture and pharmacopuncture. The following databases were searched: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CiNii, KoreaMed, Kmbase, KISS, NDSL, KISTI. The results of the studies were meta-analyzed and the risk of bias was assessed. Results: Five studies were included in this review. When acupuncture was compared with usual care, Prince-Henry pain scale score was significantly lower in acupuncture group (MD=-0.44, 95% CI: -0.62 to -0.26, P<0.001, $I^2=87%$) and 10 points pain score (including Numeric Rating Scale and Visual Analog Scale) was lower in acupuncture group but not significantly (MD=-1.00, 95% CI: -2.00 to -0.00, p=0.05). When acupuncture was compared with sham acupuncture, 10 points pain score was significantly lower in acupuncture group (MD=-0.39, 95% CI: -0.65 to -0.14, p=0.002, $I^2=0%$). Any serious adverse events were not reported. Conclusion: This review shows that acupuncture may be considered for postoperative pain in patients with solid tumor without serious adverse events. However, only a few studies were included in this study, further investigation is needed in this area.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.23-35
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• 2023

Purpose : Lung cancer induces a decrease in physical activity and a deterioration of respiratory ability. Exercise is an effective treatment to reduce side effects of anti-cancer treatments, also influence the survival and successful rehabilitation in lung cancer patients. However, there is insufficient evidence to show which period is the most effective to apply exercise for lung cancer patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of exercise-based interventions before and after surgery. Methods : Clinical trials (CTs) and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reported in PubMed database were investigated. The trials investigated in this study were published for 10 years before August 20, 2022. The risk of bias was judged according to the Cochrane guideline. The materials included in this meta-analysis were 6-minute walk test (6MWT), pulmonary function, and quality of life (QOL). Results : 1 CT and 9 RCTs were selected in current study. In the meta-analysis, exercise increased 6MWT in preoperation (mean difference [MD] 29.49; 95 % confidence interval [CI] .99 to 57.99; p=.04; I²=0 %), 3 months postoperation (MD 54.97; 95 % CI 31.85 to 78.09; p<.001; I²=45 %) and 6 months postoperation (MD 85.59; 95 % CI 45.06 to 126.12; p<.001; I²=47 %). Exercise, also enhanced the lung function such as FEV₁/FVC (%) in postoperation (MD 7.64; 95 % CI 6.26 to 9.02; p<.001; I²=19 %). Additionally, exercise improved QOL, such as preoperative EORTC-QLQ-C30-LC13 in mental function (MD 3.21; 95 % CI .64 to 5.79; p=.01; I²=0 %) and postoperative SF-36 in mental component summary (MD 9.24; 95 % CI 4.94 to 13.54; p<.001; I²=0%). Conclusion : These results indicate that exercise-based intervention can elevate the ability to exercise and the mental componentof QOL within 3 months.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.6099-6111
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• 2015

This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the effects of aquatic exercise and land-based exercise in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. 7 studies (n=449) met selection and exclusion criteria out of 287 potential studies obtained from the literature search via Ovid-Medline, Cochrane Library CENTRAL, CINAHL, RISS and KISS. The overall risk of bias of selected studies using SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) checklist for randomized controlled trials (RCT) was regarded as low. As a result of meta analysis, Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) for pain was -0.26(95% CI -0.49, -0.03, p=0.03, $I^2=14%$), which implies that aquatic exercise groups had significant less pain than land-based exercise groups. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between aquatic exercise groups and land based exercise groups for flexion Range of Motion (ROM) (-0.12, 95% CI -0.51, 0.27, p=0.53, $I^2=0%$), extension ROM (-0.04, 95% CI -0.55, 0.48, p=0.89, $I^2=43%$), physical function (-0.12, 95% CI -0.44, 0.19, p=0.44, $I^2=0%$), Quality of Life (QOL) (-0.15, 95% CI -0.54, 0.24, p=0.46, $I^2=0%$). This study has some limitations due to few RCTs comparing aquatic exercise groups and land-based exercise groups in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Therefore, further RCTs should be conducted along with long-term outcomes.