• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.50-56
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• 2014

Objectives: Mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP) is an extract distilled from either mountain cultivated ginseng or mountain wild ginseng. This is the first intravenous injection of pharmacopuncture in Korea. The word intravenous does not discriminate between arteries, veins, and capillaries in Oriental Medicine, but only the vein is used for MGP. The aim of this study is to evaluate the intravenous injection toxicity of MGP through a single-dose test in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods: Male and female 6-week-old SD rats were injected intravenously with MGP (high dosage of 20 mL/kg or low dosage of 10 mL/kg). Normal saline was injected into the rats in the control group by using the same method. After the rats has treated, we conducted clinical observations, body-weight measurements and histological observations. Results: In this study, no mortalities were observed in any of the experimental groups. Also, no significant changes by the intravenous injection of MGP were observed in the body weights, or the histological observations in any of the experimental groups compared to the control group. The lethal dose for intravenous injection of MGP was found to be over 20 mL/kg in SD rats. Conclusion: Considering that the dosage of MGP generally used each time in clinical practice is about 0.3 mL/kg, we concluded with confidence that MGP is safe pharmacopuncture.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2014

Objectives: Mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP) is a pharmacopuncture made by distilling extract from mountain cultivated ginseng or mountain wild ginseng. This pharmacopuncture is injected intravenously, which is a quick, lossless way of strongly tonifying Qi function. The present study was undertaken to evaluate a 4-week, repeated, intravenous injection, toxicity test of MGP in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Methods: Twenty male and female 6-week-old SD rats were used as subjects. We divided the SD rats into 4 groups: the high-dosage (10 mL/kg), medium-dosage (5 mL/kg), low-dosage (2.5 mL/kg) and control (normal saline) groups. MGP or normal saline was injected intravenously into the caudal vein of the rats once daily for 4 weeks. Clinical signs, body weights, and food consumption were monitored during the observation period, and hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight, necropsy, and histological examinations were conducted once the observations had been completed. Results: No mortality was observed in any of the groups during the observation period. No changes due to MGP were observed in the experimental groups regarding clinical signs, body weights, food consumption, hematology, serum biochemistry, organ weight and necropsy. No histological changes due to MGP were observed in any of the male or female rats in the high-dosage group. Conclusion: During this 4-week, repeated, intravenous injection, toxicity test of MGP in SD rats, no toxic changes due to MGP were observed in any of the male or female rats in the high-dosage group. Thus, we suggest that the high and the low doses in a 13-week, repeated test should be 10 mL/kg and 2.5 mL/kg, respectively.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.5-14
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• 2010

Objectives : This study was performed to examine the anticancer effect of mountain ginseng Pharmacopuncture(MGP) to the nude mouse of lung carcinoma induced by NCI-H460 human nonsmall lung cancer cells. Methods : Human lung cancer (NCI-H460) cells were cultured and applied to evaluate anti-tumor activity in nude mice. After confirmed tumor growth in mice, MGP was treated per 0.1ml/kg dose to intraperitoneal and intravenous injection everyday for four weeks. And checked the changes in body weights, tumor volume, mean survival time and percent, increase in life span, histo-pathological findings, organ weights, and blood chemistry levels. Results : The results of in vivo study showed that MGP may have potential as growth inhibitor of solid tumor induced NCI-H460 without marked side effects. MGP inhibited dosage-dependently the growth of NCI-H460 cell-transplanted solid tumor compared with the control group. And mean survival time of MGP treated group was prolonged comparing with control group. Generally the group of intravenous injection is more effective than intraperitoneal injection. Conclusion : These results were suggested that MGP may be a useful anticancer agent for therapy of human lung cancer. And follow study need for the certain evidence.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.81-88
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of this report is to find out how Mountain Ginseng Pharmacopuncture(MGP) and Sweet Bee Venom(SBV) treatments are effective on prostate cancer patients by monitoring Prostate specific antigen(PSA) values. Methods: We treated two prostate cancer patients with MGP and SBV from October 2008 to April 2011. One patient had localized prostate cancer, the other was in the terminal stage of prostate cancer with lung and bone metastasis and both had been receiving western anticancer therapy. We had monitored the changes of PSA value. Results: In case 1, MGP and SBV treatments seemed to be helpful in preventing the recurrence of localized prostate cancer. In case 2, PSA value was decreased by MGP treatment. Conclusions: It is conceivable that MGP and SBV are effective treatments for patients with prostate cancer.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.51-59
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• 2015

Objective: This paper is to investigate the current evidence and clinical effectiveness of mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP) in cancer treatment. Methods: Along with hand searches, relevant literatures were searched from Korean medical database until November 2015 without language restriction and clinical researches were selected for this review. Results: Nine articles were searched. The MGP was generally prepared in the concentration of ten percent. Also, the MGP has been used by intravenous injection much more than acupoint injection. The clinical effects were the suppression of the cancer cell growth, the improvement the quality of life, the reduction of the side effect by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Conclusion: This analysis suggests that the MGP can be used as a single therapy or a supportive therapy with conventional therapies, which are chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.119-128
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• 2010

Objectives : The objective of this study is to report the change of progress in symptoms and various scales after treated with Mountain Ginseng Pharmacopuncture(MGP) on the patients of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS). Methods : The three ALS patients who treated with MGP, were checked the change of progress by ALS Functional Rating Scale(ALSFRS), ALS Severity Score(ALSSS), grasping power on both arms and circumference of both thighs and calves. Results : After MGP treatment on three ALS patients, first case did not grow worse during MGP treated whereas she got worse rapidly during none treated period. Second case did not grow worse during treated period and third case got worse in progress by slow degrees despite of MGP treatment. Conclusions : Although MGP could not control the progress of ALS completely, MGP may help the improving of quality of life(QOL) in ALS patients and have the effect of delayed ALS progression.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.74-77
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report a case of a plexiform neurofibroma (PNF) in the pelvic region treated with sweet bee venom (SBV) and mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP). Methods: A 16-year-old girl was diagnosed as having PNFs, neurofibromatosis type 1, 10 years ago and she had surgery three times to remove the benign tumors, but the growth of the PNFs continued. She has been treated in our clinic with SBV and MGP two times per month from March 2010 to April 2014. SBV was injected intra-subcutaneously at the borders of the PNFs in the pelvic region, and MGP was administrated intravenously each treatment time. Results: The growths of the PNFs occurred rapidly and continued steadily before treatment. Since March 2010, she has been treated in our clinic, and the growths of the PNFs have almost stopped; further-more, the discomfort of hip joint pain has been reduced, and her general condition has improved. Conclusion: We cautiously conclude that SBV and MGP treatment has some effects that suppress the growth and the spread of the PNFs in this patient.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.62-69
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report a case series of advanced cancer patients whose cancer pain was relieved by using autonomic nerve pharmacopuncture (ANP) treatment. ANP is a subcutaneous injection therapy of mountain ginseng pharmacopuncture (MGP) along the acupoints on the spine (Hua-Tuo-Jia-Ji-Xue; 0.5 cun lateral to the lower border of the spinous processes of vertebrae) to enhance the immune system and to balance autonomic nerve function. Methods: Patients with three different types of cancer (gastric cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer with distant metastases) with cancer pain were treated with ANP. 1 mL of MGP was injected into the bilateral Hua-Tuo-Jia-Ji-Xue on the T1-L5 sites (total 12-20 mL injection) of each patient's dorsum by using the principle of symptom differentiation. During ANP treatment, the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain was used to assess their levels of cancer pain; also, the dosage and the frequency of analgesic use were measured. Results: The cancer pain levels of all three patients improved with treatment using ANP. The VAS scores of the three patients decreased as the treatment progressed. The dosage and the frequency of analgesics also gradually decreased during the treatment period. Significantly, no related adverse events were found. Conclusion: ANP has shown benefit in controlling cancer pain for the three different types of cancer investigated in this study and in reducing the dosage and the frequency of analgesics. ANP is expected to be beneficial for reducing cancer pain and, thus, to be a promising new treatment for cancer pain.