• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.67-86
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of herbal medicine treatment for glucose and lipid metabolic abnormalities caused by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: We searched for randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) in 6 electronic databases and search key words were 'PCOS' and 'chinese medicine' or 'herbal medicine' and 'Metabolic syndrome' or 'glucose' or 'lipid'. The results of the studies were analyzed and the risk of bias was assessed by using Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool. Results: We finally selected 7 studies. In 3 of selected studies, herbal medicine was more effective than western medicine in all outcomes and in other 3 selected studies, herbal medicine was partially more effective than western medicine. Conclusions: The study provides a basis for applying herbal medicine treatment to patients with metabolic syndrome caused by PCOS and helps developing a treatment protocol of caring patients with PCOS. But the limitation of this study is that the number of studies included is small and lack of uniformity of outcome indicators made it difficult to observe overall interrelationship between indicators.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.338-341
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• 2021

As diagnoses of small ground glass nodule (GGN)-type lung adenocarcinoma are increasing due to the increasing frequency of computed tomography (CT) screening, surgical treatment for GGN-type lung adenocarcinoma has rapidly become more common. However, the appropriate surgical extent for these lesions remains unclear; therefore, several retrospective studies have been published and prospectively randomized controlled trials are being undertaken. This article takes a closer look at each clinical study. Convincing evidence must be published on 2 issues for sublobar resection to be accepted as a standard surgical option for GGN lung adenocarcinoma. In the absence of such evidence, it is better to perform lobar resection as long as the patient has sufficient lung function. The first issue is the definition of a sufficient resection margin, and the second is whether lymph node metastasis is conclusively ruled out before surgery. An additional issue is the need for an accurate calculation of the total size and solid size on CT. Given the results of clinical studies so far, wedge resection or segmentectomy shows a good prognosis for GGNs with a total size of 2 cm or less. Therefore, sublobar resection will play a key role even in patients who can tolerate lobectomy.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.24-41
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• 2018

Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical studies on the effect of herbal medicine in JIA and to seek better approach of herbal medicine to treat JIA. Methods This study researched randomized controlled trials through various databases in the world about herbal medicine treatments in JIA. Results 11 out of 414 studies were selected and analyzed. All studies were conducted in China. Most of the studies were using herbal medicines, as an adjunctive treatment to the main regimen, and the total effective rate was higher in the treatment group than in the control group. One study was comparing the herbal oriental medicine treatment to the western medicine treatment, and it showed that treatment group was more effective than control group. 5 out of 11 studies reported treatment cases from a single herbal medicine; most of them used Total glucosides of Paeonia (TGP). Clematidis Radix et Rhizoma (威靈仙) were also commonly used, as well as medicinal herbs belong to Eliminating wind-dampness medicine (祛風濕藥) and Activating blood resolving stasis medicine (活血祛瘀藥). Conclusions Based on this study, herbal medicines for JIA treatment will be effective even if used alone or in conjunction with other medicines. To apply clinically, further studies are needed.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the scientific literature demonstrating the effectiveness of Chuna manual therapy (CMT) in the treatment of spinal scoliosis. Methods : A literature search was conducted using eight electronic databases to identify all randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) that investigated CMT as a treatment for spinal scoliosis. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the methodological quality of each RCT. Results : Five RCTs met our inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. These studies demonstrated positive results of CMT with respect to the reduction of Cobb's angle, vertebral rotation angle score, bending test score, and efficacy rate compared with brace treatment. Positive results were also assured, in terms of the reduction of Cobb's angle, pulmonary function, and efficacy rate when comparing CMT combined with other therapy with brace treatment, gymnastic training, or traction therapy. Conclusions : This review has identified encouraging and limited evidence of CMT for the treatment of spinal scoliosis. However, to obtain stronger evidence, without the disadvantages of study design and quality, we recommend that treatment effectiveness of CMT for spinal scoliosis is investigated further using a well-designed RCT.

• Journal of Acupuncture & Meridian Studies
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.343-354
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• 2018

Auriculotherapy has been extensively used for chronic spontaneous urticaria in China. However, the evidence of its effectiveness and safety for the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria is insufficient. Hence, we conducted this study to compare auriculotherapy or auriculotherapy joint treatment with Western medicine for the cure of chronic spontaneous urticaria. This meta-analysis of seven randomized controlled trials showed that auriculotherapy or auriculotherapy joint treatment was significantly superior to Western medicine in curing clinical signs and symptoms of chronic spontaneous urticaria [odds ration (OR), 2.61; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.54-4.43; p = 0.0004) and also better in total effect rate (OR, 3.81; 95% CI, 2.07-7.01; p<0.0001). But, auriculotherapy or auriculotherapy joint treatment was similar to Western medicine in improving clinical signs and symptoms of chronic spontaneous urticaria (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.35-1.56; p = 0.42). Auriculotherapy or auriculotherapy joint treatment was safer than Western medicine for curing chronic spontaneous urticaria (OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.09-0.80; p = 0.02). Auriculotherapy alone or auriculotherapy joint treatment appears to be more effective and safer than Western medicine that contains antihistamines in the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to the unclear risk bias of methodological quality, and further studies with large-scale, better, and more rigorously designed protocol are necessary to prove these findings.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.276-283
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• 2021

The purpose of this review was to investigate acupotomy treatment for peripheral facial palsy. By reviewing recent clinical trends, this may contribute to standardizing acupotomy treatment methods. There were 7 randomized controlled trials and 6 case series using acupotomy treatment for peripheral facial palsy published between January 01, 2014 and April 05, 2021, which were retrieved from 9 online databases. The number and characteristics of participants, main treatment sites, combination treatments, size of acupotomy needle, frequency and total period of treatment, evaluation indices, efficacy, and adverse events were analyzed. "Tender point or induration," "infraorbical foramen," and "buccal mucosa" were the most used treatment sites. The sizes of acupotomy needles varied from 20 mm to 80 mm in length, and 0.35 mm to 1.0 mm in diameter. One treatment cycle was performed every 3 to 5-7 days, and the number of treatments per treatment session ranged from 3 to 5-9 cycles. The results were evaluated using 1 to 4 evaluation indices and 9 different evaluation indices were used overall. The efficacy rate was the most used index, followed by the House-Brackmann grade, and electrocardiography. The "Risk of Bias 2," categorized most studies as having "some concerns." There were few adverse events reported.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.104-121
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• 2021

Objectives The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of herbal medication for the treatment of functional abdominal pain in children by analyzing randomized controlled trials conducted in China. Methods Literatures from China National Knowledge Infrastructure published up to 23 November, 2020 were searched. Then they were collected and analyzed by their publication year, demographic information, treatment methods used, duration of illnesses, duration of treatments, follow-up periods, outcome measurement and adverse events. Results A total of 27 studies were selected for the analysis. In all studies, the total efficacy of the herbal medicine treatment group was reported to be higher than that of the control group. The most frequently used medical herb was Root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer (甘草). The most frequently used classes of herbal medications are Qi regulating medicine (理氣藥), Qi tonics (補氣藥), Aromatic wet medicine (芳香化濕藥), and Digestant (消食藥). The adverse events rate for the herbal medicine treatment group were significantly lower than those in the Western medicine treatment group. Conclusions This study showed that herbal medicine treatment can be effective and safe option for treating pediatric functional abdominal pain. However, additional well-designed clinical studies are needed to solidify the findings.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.222-237
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the trend in the research on cirrhotic ascites using t herbal medicine. Methods: This review was conducted using six electronic databases(NDSL, KMBASE, Koreantk, KISS, KISTI, KoreaMed) with no restriction in year. The search term was 'liver cirrhosis', 'ascites', or 'cirrhotic ascites', 'herbal medicine', 'traditional Chinese medicine', and 'randomized clinical trial', and there was no restriction in year. The searched studies were analyzed according to the type of research. Results: After scanning the titles and abstracts, 13 articles were ultimately included. Of the outcome measures of 13 studies, effective rate, liver function test, and ascites regression time were included in the meta-analysis, which showed that the effective rate of herbal medicine-supportive treatment combination therapy was 1.27 times higher than that of supportive treatment alone, and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusions: We analyzed the trends of cirrhotic ascites treatment in herbal medicine through this review. It is necessary to conduct further studies, such as well-designed clinical trials based on the results from experimental research.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.201-213
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• 2023

This study reviewed clinical papers reported on hemifacial spasm (HFS). Six online databases were searched for clinical papers published between January 2000 and December 2022. This study reviewed 14 studies, including 13 case reports and 1 combination of case reports and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The most frequently used acupoints were ST7 and TE17, and the stomach meridian was the most frequently selected. Herbal medicine, pharmacopuncture, thread embedding acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, and physical therapy were combined with acupuncture. The most frequently used evaluation method is Scott's scale. Out of 95 cases, 82 reported improved HFS symptoms after treatment. Our findings indicated the effectiveness of Korean Medicine treatment in treating HFS. However, evidence of efficacy and safety remains insufficient. Large-scale and well-designed investigations will be required in the future to corroborate these results. We believe that this paper will serve as the foundation for future RCTs.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.129-153
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report the clinical effectiveness and safety of herbal medicine treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis. Methods: Researchers searched papers through 5 online databases including The Cochrane Library Central, Pubmed, China Academic Journal (CAJ), Oriental medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS) and Korean studies Information Service System (KISS). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used herbal medicine as treatment were included. Results: Twenty three studies were selected by the selection and exclusion criteria. The treatment group was treated with herbal medicine alone or with herbal medicine and conventional medicine. The control group was treated with conventional medicine. Most common evaluation index was Bone Mineral Density (BMD) followed by total efficacy rate and level of bone metabolism markers, level of sex hormones, etc. Compared with the control group, the treatment group was more effective and safer in all of 23 studies. Conclusions: Herbal treatment alone could be an effective and safe option in treating postmenopausal osteoporosis. Moreover herbal treatment with conventional medicine could improve its therapeutic effect on postmenopausal osteoporosis as well.