• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.38 no.5
• /
• pp.727-735
• /
• 2017

This case report describes a 60-year-old man who had reflux symptoms despite treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Korean traditional medicine, including a herbal prescription, acupuncture, and moxibustion was administered to the patient during his 19 days of hospitalization. The visual analogue scale (VAS), gastrointestinal scale (GIS), and gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS) scores were assessed on the dates of admission and discharge. An abdominal examination, which is one of the Korean medicine diagnostic tools, was performed every day to evaluate the treatment progress. During the treatment, the improvement of symptoms was clinically correlated with abdominal examination outcomes. We suggest that administration of traditional Korean Medicine on PPI-refractory GERD patients could be effective and we recommend utilization of the abdominal examination as an assessment tool for Korean Medicine treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.20-25
• /
• 2022

Background and Objectives Globus pharyngeus is one of the most common symptoms of patients visiting otorhinolaryngology out-patient clinic, and usually long-lasting, difficult to treat, and frequently recurrent. Mucomyst^®, N-acetyl cysteine is an inhalation agent mainly used for mucolysis and reducing inflammation in airway via antioxidative effect. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of inhaled Mucomyst^® treatment in patients with globus pharyngeus refractory to proton pump inhibitor (PPI). Materials and Method We prospectively evaluated the efficacy of Mucomyst^® in relieving symptoms of globus pharyngeus refractory to PPI in nine medical centers. Three hundred and three patients enrolled and finally 229 patients finished the inhaled Mucomyst^® therapy for 8 weeks. We analyzed the change of Reflux Symptom Index (RSI), Reflux Finding Score (RFS), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for globus, and Globus Pharyngeus Symptom Scale (GPS) after use of Mucomyst^® for 4 and 8 weeks. Results The GPS, RSI, RFS, and VAS score significantly decreased serially in patients who finished 8 week-inhalation treatment. The GPS improvement gap was significantly correlated with initial GPS (p<0.001) in multiple regression analysis. Conclusion Inhaled Mucomyst^® therapy was effective for the reduction of both subjective and objective findings in refractory globus patients. This study might suggest new treatment option for patients with globus. However, further thorough studies would be needed to assess the real effect of inhaled Mucomyst^® treatment as a standard treatment for globus.