• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.24-41
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• 2012

Objectives: This study reviewed research trends concerning the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and to suggest future research directions appropriate to medical circumstances in Korea. Methods: We searched for surveys of CAM use in 8 databases including 6 Korean databases, Ovid MEDLINE, and the CINAHL electronic database. Three independent reviewers working in pairs screened titles and abstracts of articles for eligibility. Full text was retrieved in case of disagreement on the eligibility. The main analysis targets included survey researcher's affiliation, terminology used in the title, study subject, definition of CAM, classifications of CAM modalities, and the area assortment of CAM and traditional Korean medicine (TKM). Results: 92 articles were included for analysis. The major constituent of affiliation was doctors (53%). According to years, study subjects were diversified to a large range of diseases. Since 2003, terminology is absorbed to use CAM. But actually, the most commonly used definition in the research was comprehensive such as "not generally considered part of major medicine" (55.4%) and the most used classification of CAM was self-criteria (61.9%). As for area assortment of CAM and TKM, many therapies exist in a gray zone between CAM and TKM. Conclusions: Standardized definition and classification criteria about CAM fit to the Korean healthcare system have not yet developed. For traditional Korean medicine academia, more concern should be paid to establishing appropriate development of definitions and classification criteria.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2007

In "Huangdineijing", detailed descriptions of the human physiology, pathology, causes of diseases, and symptoms can be found. The doctors who studied "Huangdineijing" interpreted "Huangdineijing" from many different points of view and such contents are being put to practical use even today. Some parts, however, are not translated clearly enough. Contents of the book of Fuqibing falls into this category. It cannot be explained why the description of Fuqibing is mentioned after Fuqibing. This study is an organization of the writer's opinion on Fuqibing.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.335-347
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• 2015

Objectives This study aims to overview traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment guidelines for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in order to facilitate the use of Korean medicine (KM) treatment in pandemic diseases. Methods We compared the characteristics between SARS and MERS, and overviewed the Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment guidelines for SARS and MERS. We assessed the efficacy of simultaneous administration of herbal medicine and Western medicine on SARS by studying Cochranes 2012's Systematic Review Studies. Results and Conclusions Based on wen bing (warm diseases) of KM as well as TCM, KM treatment can be an alternative for pandemic diseases such as SARS and MERS considering the Korean's characteristic environment.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.49-68
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• 2012

Objectives : Recently, the elderly population and dementia prevalence have been rapidly increasing in Korea. Dementia is a concept of syndrome composed of characteristic symptoms. However, there have been no approved treatments for dementia with proven efficacy. Therefore, we investigated Korean traditional treatment being used in clinic and collaborative practice for dementia in the professional group. Methods : We conducted a survey using questionnaires to professors of oriental neuropsychiatry for a month. Items of the questionnaire consisted of overall Korean traditional medical treatment for dementia, which included herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, psychotherapy and others. Results : 1. It was shown that Yukmijihwangtanggamibang, Jowiseungcheongtang, Seonghyangjeonggisan have been used the most in herbal medicine. 2. Chechim, Saamchimbeop, and scalp acupuncture have been used the most in acupuncture treatment. 3. In Korean traditional psychotherapy, Ijeongbyeongi, Jieongoronyobeop, Gigongyobeop have been used, and effective in anxiety, agitation, improvement of comprehension for caregiver and environment. 4. Most professors answered that collaborative practice between Korean traditional medicine and western medicine has been needed for dementia. They suggested that herbal medicine, followed by acupuncture, and moxibustion can be used with western medicine simultaneously. Conclusions : The survey revealed that professors use herbal medicine and acupuncture as main treatments for dementia. They share perspective regarding the need of long period to treat dementia patients, and there are needs of collaborative practice for dementia.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.51-61
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• 2016

Background : Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common adverse effect in cancer patients who were exposed to chemotherapy. CIPN impacts on the quality of life and could delay chemotherapy. The aim of this review was to assess the therapeutic effectiveness of herbal medicine in CIPN patients. Methods : Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in this review. We searched MEDLINE, Cochrane database, EMBASE, CNKI, Wanfang and four Korean databases without restrictions on time or language. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results : Eleven RCTs involving 706 patients met the inclusion criteria. Eleven different herbal medicines were examined in the included trials. Almost RCTs showed insufficiency in the reporting randomization method and allocation concealment. One trial used allocation concealment and a double-blinding method. Five studies reported that participants dropped out of RCTs and conducted an 'as-treated analysis'. One trials reported adverse effects of herbal medicine. In ten of the eleven trials, the use of herbal medicine had shown significant differences in clinical symptoms or nerve conduction velocity. Conclusions : The use of herbal medicines for CIPN showed significant improvements in the management of CIPN. However, conclusions cannot be drawn because of the generally low quality of methodology and low quantity of data for each single herbal medicine. Further rigorous trials are needed.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2023

Objectives: Medical services are closely related to individual health and welfare, and health status in childhood or adolescence is widely recognized to be related to many socioeconomic outcomes. Therefore, providing appropriate medical services in childhood and adolescence is important. We aimed to investigate the determinants of traditional Korean medical services (TKMS) usage by children aged < 19 years. The focus was on the role of their parents' experiences with TKMS in determining TKMS use by children. Methods: Using a representative sample in South Korea, we conducted a regression analysis to assess how parents' experience with TKMS affects the probability of their children using TKMS. Results: We found parents' experience with TKMS to have a significantly positive effect on the probability of TKMS use by children and parents' biological information, such as age and sex, to affect the probability of TKMS use. Specifically, parents' experiences with TKMS generally increased the probability of children using TKMS by approximately 20%. Conclusion: This study's results suggest that considering parents' opinions and providing them the opportunity to participate in programs that enhance young children's use of TKMS may be effective.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.339-344
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• 2009

Diabetic cataract is a major complication of diabetes mellitus. Excess accumulation of sorbitol plays an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications such as cataract formation. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of the extract of the aerial parts of Aster koraiensis (AK) on diabetic cataractogenesis. To examine this further, we evaluated sorbitol accumulation during cataract development using streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat, an animal model of type 1 diabetes. Diabetic rats were treated orally with AK (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg body weight) once a day orally for 9 weeks. In vehicle-treated diabetic rats, lens opacity was increased, and lens fiber swelling and membrane rupture were observed. In addition, sorbitol accumulation in diabetic lens was markedly enhanced. However, AK treatment delayed the progression of diabetic cataract through the inhibition of sorbitol accumulation, and prevented lens fiber degeneration in a dose-dependent manner. These observations suggest that AK treatment can delay the progression of lens opacification in the diabetic rats during the early diabetic cataractogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.19-31
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• 2008

Names attributed to villages varies from governmental administrative division to simple modest names called from the habitants. Actually, scarce names only called from the habitants remains today. While these names reflect abundant cultural, social and historical aspects we made this research based on those nominations related only to Korean traditional medicine(KTM). We could find that the most KTM related village name was famine relieve or/and medicinal plant designation like Puerariae village. Also there was names of doctors like Dasan. Another big portion was from the medicinal mineral waters like Yakbawegol which said has the properties for dermatologic desease. We suggest this study may use as a clue in the field of KTM history research.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.153-172
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• 2009

Background : The safety of Korean herbal Medicine (KHM: prescribed herbal medicine by doctors of traditional Korean medicine) is an important issue in Korea. Although both fields. western medicine and traditional Korean medicine. have been studied on the safety of herbs and KHM, their results were not concordance with each other. Objectives : This study aims to review the influence of KHM on liver function in Korean literature systematically. Additionally, we tried to estimate the change of data of liver function test (LFT) and the incidence of liver injury (LI) after the use of KHM. Methods : Systematic literature searches were performed on 4 major databases of Korea from their inception to May 2008. Screening and selection of the studies and the extraction of data were performed independently by two authors. There were no restrictions on the types of publication including grey literatures. Results : Forty studies were included. Only sixteen studies were performed prospectively and fifteen studies collected data from outpatients. Only 8 studies reported the occurrence of LI after the use of KHM. Nineteen cases of LI showed no or mild symptoms and the elevation of LFT was not high. All of LI patients used conventional western drug and KHM concomitantly. and causality of LI was not assessed properly. The incidence of LI related to the use of KHM was estimated as 0.59%-0.76% from all data of these studies. The conflicting results were shown on the change of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TB) after the use of KHM. Conclusions : KHM might be a minor cause of LI in Korea. However the results are not strongly supported as enough to make the safety issue clear because of the limitations of original studies. More rigorous studies are required for answering the safety issue of KHM with the cooperative investigation of both fields of Korean traditional medicine and western medicine.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.89-105
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• 2010

Research methodology on Traditional Medicine in East Asia refers to logical thinking system, empirical positivism system and methodology of developing these knowledge systems. Logical thinking system of abstract concepts such as analogy or abduction and positivism system of reasonable explanation such as the five elements and their characteristic theory have been used in various ways empirically or in the form of humanities and knowledge system was developed through parallel structure of empirical positivism and exegetical studies. After the 16th century, evidence was required along with the tradition of putting emphasis on rationality, logicality and empirical positivism and characteristics of medical humanities can be found in emphasizing on medical ethics. Data that can be considered as structural review paper or meta analysis from original data of research on Traditional East Asian Medicine should be evaluated as historical evidence which is equivalent to specialist opinion, descriptive disease research, single case report or case series. Historical evidence based medicine is a research method using Historical evidence to selectively support data that are faithful to traditional theory with higher possibility to be used in future traditional east Asian medicine that links between traditional knowledge and scientific research methodology. Moreover, historical evidence based medicine tries to re-evaluate the value of traditional knowledge and ultimately, guides the direction of development of traditional medicine through scientific rationality based on history and culture.