• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.13-29
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• 2017

Objectives: The objective of this review is to investigate the use of conventional Western medicine (WM) and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) on leg cramps. Leg cramps are the occurrence of muscular spasm in the leg muscles which occur frequently in the elderly and are frequently observed in the clinical field. Methods: Relevant clinical studies were searched from five medical databases including PubMed, KISS, RISS, OASIS, and J-STAGE. Systematic review, clinical studies, and clinical practice guideline were included in this review. Results: In total, 27 clinical studies, 9 systematic review and meta-analysis, and 1 clinical practice guideline met the inclusion criteria. Included studies were classified and analyzed according to the type of intervention. Studies on quinine and magnesium have been most studied in WM and CAM, respectively. Although quinine shows some clinical effects on leg cramps, however, the risk of side effects are suggested. In addition, magnesium failed to improve the clinically significant effects in most studies. Five case reports using Oriental herbal medicine (OHM) were included and OHMs were effective in improving leg cramps without side effects, however, the quality of evidence was low. Clinical studies on other interventions were lacking. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that there is no definite treatment standard for leg cramps until now, and there are limitations such as low level of evidence and side effects for each treatment. OHM can be an effective alternative to conventional intervention on leg cramps, therefore, related clinical studies are needed.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.87-112
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• 2022

Objectives : This study reviewed existing studies on clinical examination of Korean medicine to investigate the trends and gaps of existing research on clinical performance examination (CPX) or objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in Korean medicine education. Methods : We conducted a scoping review according to the five steps suggested by Arksey and O'Malley. Six databases(RISS, OASIS, KMBASE, KISS, ScienceON, and DBpia) were searched and studies published from 2012 to July 15, 2022 were considered. The subjects of the study were limited to domestic studies about OSCE or CPX conducted in Korean medicine education. Results : Among the 25 selected papers, 17 studies implemented OSCE or CPX in practice. Those studies were conducted in 8 clinical departments and 9 of them used standardized patients. All 14 survey studies reported positive answers in satisfaction, efficacy, and self-assessment. OSCE, CPX scoring items were developed by modifying existing tools or developing through expert surveys or through literature review and significant cases. Conclusions : This study is expected to be used as basic data for following studies and promote clinical examination. From now on, the colleges of Korean medicine should proceed research on large-scale students about extended subjects through various research methods to obtain objective results that can be generalized and acquire validity and reliability. In order to promote such research, it is necessary to induce cooperation from institutions related to Korean Medicine and local universities to develop modules, implement, and conduct post-evaluation.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.44-68
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• 2018

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the trend in the research on breast cancer using traditional Korean medicine (TKM) and establish the direction for further study. Methods: Breast cancer studies using Korean medicine were searched using the Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS). The search term was 'breast' and there was no restriction in year. The searched studies were analyzed according to the type of research. Results: 1. 83 studies were searched. The types and numbers of study were as follows: 42 were in vitro studies, 5 were in vivo studies, 12 were studies for review, and 27 were clinical research including case reports. 2. Various cell lines such as MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, SKBR3, and MCF-10A were used for in vitro studies. The studies reported a decrease in cell viability, induction of apoptosis, and change of expression in cancer-related genes. In vivo studies also reported induction of apoptosis, and anti-proliferative activity of herbal medicine against the cancer cells. 3. Among the clinical research, 8 were cross-sectional studies, 3 were controlled-trial, and 15 were case reports. The baseline characteristics of breast cancer patients were analyzed in the cross-sectional studies. Interventions such as pharmacopuncture, herbal medicine, massage, Qi gong, acupuncture, electroacupuncture and moxibustion were used in clinical research. 4. Research on the review of breast cancer covered various subjects as follows: herbal medicine, acupuncture, pattern identification of breast cancer in traditional Korean medicine, analysis of previous experimental studies, and clinical trials. Conclusion: We have found the applicability of TKM for treatment of breast cancer 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 Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.221-228
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to report the research trends of Korean medicine treatment for alopecia areata. We investigated the studies on Korean medicine treatments for alopecia areata via searching 4 web databases of Korea. 13 papers were selected, and we classified them according to publication year, published journals, the types of study, research subject, the methods of treatment, confirmation of recurrence, methods of evaluation, and institutional review board(IRB). We analyzed a total of 13 clinical studies of Korean medicine on alopecia areata based on various criteria and reviewed the research trends. Based on this, we suggested points to be improved and supplemented when conducting clinical research on alopecia areata in the future. Clinical studies on alopecia areata started to be published in 2001, and acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, herbal medicines, etc. were used as treatment methods for alopecia areata. Most of the clinical studies on alopecia areata were case studies, so it is thought that various types of clinical studies are needed. In addition, it is necessary to confirm the recurrence of alopecia areata and to improve the awareness of research ethics.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.39-46
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• 2011

Objectives : This study was aimed to review the trend of dementia clinical studies in Korean Oriental Medicine and to suggest better clinical studies. Method : We collected 26 papers on dementia clinical studies in the internet site OASIS using the keyword 'Dementia'. Then we analyzed them. Results : There were 26 clinical study papers that were published between 1996 and 2010. Observational studies account for 61% of total clinical studies, whereas experimental studies account for only 31%. Effects of treatment in experimental studies was evaluated mainly by MMSE-K and K-DRS. Treatment period of experimental studies was longer than 100days. Conclusions : High quality experimental studies like randomized clinical trial(RCT) and intervention studies which use syndrome differentiation(辨證) have not yet been published. It is necessary to research and develop duration of treatment effect and tools for evaluating treatment effects.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.18-27
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to review the studies of musculotendinous releasing manual therapy and suggestions for clinical application. Methods: Derive research questions using the scoping review methodology. Searching for related studies, the studies were selected, and the data were analyzed and reported. We searched domestic database for studies on musculotendinous releasing manual therapy reported till April 2023. We reviewed 82 studies excluding duplicate studies and 13 studies were selected. Results: Five studies were literature studies and eight studies were clinical studies. Among the five literature studies, two studies investigating and analyzing general manual therapy, one study investigating manual therapy applied to frozen shoulders, and one systematic literature review to investigate the economic effects of manual therapy, one study using tools. There was one study examining research trends in manual therapy. Eight clinical studies were conducted on patients with Achilles tendinitis, tennis elbow, meralgia paresthetica and obesity. Conclusions: Musculotendinous releasing manual therapy is thought to be applicable not only to musculoskeletal disease but also to changes in body shape due to connective tissue.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.98-109
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• 2014

Objectives This paper was aimed to review experimantal and clinical articles on Yeoldahanso-tang(YDHS), figuring out the recent tendency and suggesting the future prospects of YDHS-related studies. Methods The articles published in Korean or English since 2000 were searched, screened, and classified into experimental or clinical studies. And we structured designs, methods and results of the included studies into each table for the experimental studies or the clinical studies. Especially tools to diagnose constitutions and patterns identified in clinical researches were also summarized in the tables. Results 28 articles are finally included. 14 experimental studies are mostly in vitro designs to show efficacy of YDHS. There are only 2 studies for the safety. Among 14 clinical studies, 12 case studies target disorders of central nervous system, viral infection, skin ulcer and so on. 2 studies are before and after studies on cerebral infarction and effects on liver function. Conclusions Based on the efficacy of YDHS on central nervous system, it acquires higher level of evidence such as randomized controlled trials in the future. In addition other diseases such as skin ulcer and so on, it needs to be done more specific experimental or clinical studies so that we can get statistically significant results.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.70-105
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• 2023

This study was conducted to examine the current status of traditional korean medicine studies on gastroesophageal reflux disease in Korea, identify deficiencies, and suggest the direction of future medicine research methods to lay the foundation for traditional korean medicine treatment. All domestic papers on the korean traditional treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease were selected among the literature published until August 2022 in six domestic databases. A total of 52 selected research data were classified into experimental research papers, clinical research papers, and review papers. In experimental papers, to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment, improvement of esophageal mucosal lesions, anti-inflammatory mechanisms, antioxidant mechanisms, esophageal mucosal protection mechanisms, gastric peristalsis control, and gastric acid secretion inhibition mechanisms were used as evaluation measures. In the clinical research paper, the basis for diagnosis of cases was clinical symptoms through medical history listening and diagnosis through visits to hospitals in the past. The average treatment period was 40.7 days, and the duration of treatment was not significantly affected by the duration of the disease. The most widely used Korean medicine treatment intervention was herbal medicine. There were 3 literature review studies, 3 systematic literature review and meta-analysis studies, 1 comparative review study for clinical trial guideline development, all using Chinese papers. This study included all domestic papers on gastroesophageal reflux disease to identify the research trend of the Korean oriental medicine community, and based on this, it is meaningful to confirm areas that need to be supplemented in future research plans.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.70-88
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• 2019

Objective: This study investigated the trends in pancreatic cancer research on Korean medicine in order to establish a direction for further study. Methods: Pancreatic cancer research on Korean medicine was reviewed using databases such as OASIS, KoreanTK, KISS, RISS, KISTI, and NDSL. The search terms were "pancreatic cancer" "Korean medicine," and "herbal medicine." There was no restriction on publication dates, and the reviewed studies were analyzed according to the type of research. Results: Nineteen studies were reviewed. The numbers and types of research were as follows: 9 clinical studies including case reports, 2 review studies, and 8 in vitro studies; there was no in vivo study. Among the clinical research were 3 descriptive studies and 6 case reports. The baseline characteristics and quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients were analyzed in the descriptive studies. In the case reports, interventions such as herbal medicine, pharmacopuncture, and acupuncture were used. Research articles on the review of pancreatic cancer were titled "Preliminary Study for Development of Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline for Pancreatic Cancer" and "Systemic Review on the Tumor Dormancy Therapy." Cell lines such as PANC-1, MIA PaCa-2, and AsPC-1 were used for in vitro studies. These studies have reported decreased cell viability, induced apoptosis, and changes in cancer-related gene expression. Conclusion: Through this review, we found that using Korean medicine for treating pancreatic cancer is applicable. However, due to overall limited the number of study, the benefit of Korean medicine for pancreatic cancer may be substantiated to a limited degree. Better methodological quality and large controlled trials are expected to further quantify the therapeutic effect of Korean medicine.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.612-623
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• 2018

Objective: The aim of this research was to investigate the current status and limitations of the clinical use of a pulse tonometry device (PTD). Methods: We searched online medical databases, including Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS), Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), DataBase Periodical Information Academic (DBpia) and PubMed, for clinical studies of metabolic diseases that used PTD. We selected articles on the clinical application of the PTD but excluded duplicate articles, clinical studies without the PTD, and non-clinical studies. In the first screening, 551 articles were selected. Ultimately, we found 10 articles and classified the articles according to the following diseases: hyperlipidemia, diabetes, overweight and obesity, hypertension, and metabolic disease. Results: Of the 10 selected articles, 4 were focused on hypertension. Two articles were focused on overweight or obesity and two articles were focused on the metabolic disease. Conclusions: This study was the first attempt to conduct a systematic review on clinical studies of metabolic disease using the PTD as a primary outcome. We suggest that the standard of pulse wave parameters and operating procedures for the PTD should be further developed. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic information for the planning and progression of clinical studies of metabolic syndrome using PTD.