• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.200-206
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• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to report the effect of combination of herbal medicine and conventional treatment on preterm labor patient at high risk for preterm delivery. Methods: The patient in this case was 33-year-old female with gravid 3, para 2, abortus 1. She experienced 1 preterm birth 5 years ago. She visited our clinic with lower abdominal pain at 14th gestational week. We treated her by herbal medicine. She also take vaginal progesterone from 19th gestational week to 34th gestational week. Results: She maintained her pregnancy until giving a birth by cesarean section at 38th gestational week. No adverse effects were not observed among mother or infant. Conclusions: Combination of herbal medicine and conventional treatment is effective on preterm labor patient at high risk for preterm delivery.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.171-176
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• 2018

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) tends to grow more rapidly and spread much faster than non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A concurrent combination of chemotherapy and thoracic radiotherapy is suggested as the standard conventional treatment, but it is more challenging for elderly patients having pulmonary and cardiovascular comorbidities. Case presentation: Here we present a case of an 80-year-old male, current smoker diagnosed with SCLC in limited stage T3N0M0 (36mm right upper lobe, satellite nodule) in Dec, 2015. The standard concurrent chemoradiotherapy was not available for his comorbidities, which included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and angina pectoris. Furthermore, he and his family refused the recommended chemotherapy or radiotherapy exclusively. Alternatively, he received various non-conventional treatments including local radiofrequency hyperthermia, mistletoe, and Traditional Korean medicine including acupuncture, moxibustion and herbs since Jan. 2016. Despite the progression in primary tumor size, there have been no other distant relapse so far, and the patient has been in stable condition ever since. Conclusion: We suggest that a combination of various alternative treatments could be a candidate for elderly patients intolerable to conventional cytotoxic treatments.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.915-919
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• 2005

The increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine(CAM) in Korea as well as in U.S.A. and Europe seems to lead to a growing integration of CAM with conventional medicine. By using conventional mainstream medicine with CAM(integrative medicine) proved in efficacy and safety, integrative medicine seeks to treat the whole person, to assist the innate healing properties of each person and to promote health and wellness as well as the prevention of diseases. Also in pediatric diseases, especially for cancer patients, integrative medicine serves as an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and children-centered care which results in more effective care by synergistically combining therapies. But the research to prove the efficacy and safety of CAM and the education for CAM in the medical school should proceed before applying them to patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Veterinary Clinics Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.185-185
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• 2008

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.114-125
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• 2020

Objectives : The aim of this study is to review the topical anesthetic effect of herbal medicine. Methods : Using domestic database(OASIS, RISS) and foreign database(Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane library, CNKI), clinical studies about efficacy of herbal medicine as topical anesthetics were searched. Only randomized controlled trials(RCT) were selected and analyzed. Results : Total 647 studies were searched. After screening process, 5 articles were selected. 2 were from Chinese database and 3 were from English database. Articles were about clinical use of herbal medicine as topical anesthetics and compare their efficacy with conventional topical anesthetics. Out of 5 articles, 4 articles used pain rating scales recorded by subjects as outcome measurement. All studies showed lower pain score in herbal medicine using groups. 4 studies showed that there was no statistically significant difference in pain score between herbal medicine using group and conventional topical anesthetics using group. Conclusions : The results suggest that topical anesthetics using herbal medicine is as effective as or maybe even more effective than conventional topical anesthetics. However, experimental design and composition of intervention were all different, which provides inaccuracy when comparing the experimental results. Also, sample sizes were small and the number of RCTs were insufficient to identify full list of herbs that have potentials to be used topical anesthetics. Further studies need to be conducted to find out potentials of herbal medicine as topical anesthetics.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.100-106
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• 2019

Background: In Korean medicine, carpal tunnel syndrome is treated by stimulating the acupoints around the wrist. Although a deep understanding of anatomy and guidance is needed to stimulate these acupoints to avoid undesirable side-effects, currently there are no published guidelines for acupotomy treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fluoroscopy-guided acupotomy compared with conventional acupotomy treatment. Methods: This is a randomized, patient-assessor, patient blind, parallel clinical trial. A total of 30 patients will be enrolled at Wonkwang University Gwangju Hospital, and will be allocated to either an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group will be treated using fluoroscopy-guided acupotomy and the control group will be treated using the conventional acupotomy method. Results: The primary outcome measure will be identification of a cross-section area of the median nerve measured by ultrasonography, and the secondary outcome measure will be the alleviation of pain measured by the Visual Analogue Scale, improvement in the Nerve Conduction Study, Tinel test, Phalen's test, EuroQol 5-dimension scale, and Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire score. Safety components will be measured by monitoring vital signs, electrocardiographs, blood tests, general chemical tests, urine tests and pregnancy tests. In addition, observations for adverse effects will be performed during the trial. Conclusion: This study will provide a more effective, and less harmful way of treating carpal tunnel syndrome compared with conventional acupotomy. Fluoroscopy-guided acupotomy will help practitioners to be accurate in direction and depth of the needle for treating carpal tunnel syndrome.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.158-164
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• 2014

Objective: To assess whether an early GnRH antagonist start leads to better follicular synchronization and an improved clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). Methods: A retrospective cohort study. A total of 218 infertile women who underwent IVF between January 2011 and February 2013. The initial cohort (Cohort I) that underwent IVF between January 2011 and March 2012 included a total of 68 attempted IVF cycles. Thirty-four cycles were treated with the conventional GnRH antagonist protocol, and 34 cycles with an early GnRH antagonist start protocol. The second cohort (Cohort II) that underwent IVF between June 2012 and February 2013 included a total of 150 embryo-transfer (ET) cycles. Forty-three cycles were treated with the conventional GnRH antagonist protocol, 34 cycles with the modified early GnRH antagonist start protocol using highly purified human menopause gonadotropin and an addition of GnRH agonist to the luteal phase support, and 73 cycles with the GnRH agonist long protocol. Results: The analysis of Cohort I showed that the number of mature oocytes retrieved was significantly higher in the early GnRH antagonist start cycles than in the conventional antagonist cycles (11.9 vs. 8.2, p=0.04). The analysis of Cohort II revealed higher but non-significant CPR/ET in the modified early GnRH antagonist start cycles (41.2%) than in the conventional antagonist cycles (30.2%), which was comparable to that of the GnRH agonist long protocol cycles (39.7%). Conclusion: The modified early antagonist start protocol may improve the mature oocyte yield, possibly via enhanced follicular synchronization, while resulting in superior CPR as compared to the conventional antagonist protocol, which needs to be studied further in prospective randomized controlled trials.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.134-139
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• 2021

Background: Intrapleural urokinase is one of the most widely used fibrinolytic agents in the treatment of complicated parapneumonic effusion (CPPE). However, little research has been performed on the optimal urokinase dosage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the treatment efficacy of half dose urokinase compared with conventional dose urokinase. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 92 patients with CPPE or empyema who underwent intrapleural urokinase treatment at two tertiary hospitals. Patients received antibiotics, chest tube drainage, and other treatments as part of routine care. The primary outcome was the treatment success rate in the half dose urokinase group (50,000 IU daily for maximal 6 days) and the conventional dose urokinase group (100,000 IU daily). Treatment success was defined as clinical and radiological improvements without surgical treatment or re-admission within one month. Results: Forty-four patients received half dose urokinase, whereas 48 patients were treated with conventional dose urokinase. Both groups were relatively well matched at baseline, excluding higher serum white blood cell count and higher empyema prevalence in the half dose urokinase group. The treatment success rate was not different between the two groups (p=0.048). There were no differences in the rate of in-hospital death and surgical treatment, hospitalization duration, and indwelling catheter duration. In the multivariate analysis, urokinase dose was not a predictor of treatment success. Conclusion: Half dose intrapleural urokinase is equally effective conventional dose urokinase in treating patients with CPPE or empyema.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.277-284
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• 2008

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of Bobath and conventional method has an effect on gait of adult hemiplegic patients. Methods : The data were collected by each 15 adult stroke patients. The treatment was based on Bobath and conventional approach. Temporal and spatial parameters of gait were analysed for using the computerized GAITRite system. Results : The gait step (p<.05), gait velocity (p<.05), cadence (p<.05) and step length (p<.05) was significantly different with the Bobath method. The Gait step (p<.05) and gait velocity (p<.05) was significantly different with the conventional method. But the cadence and step length was not significantly increased in the conventional method. Conclusion : The Bobath method is more useful to improve the gait in hemiplegic patients than conventional method.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.139-148
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the chest compression quality between compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and conventional CPR. Methods: This study involved 123 participants randomly assigned to either the chest compression-only CPR training and conventional CPR training. After training for 120 min, the participants performed CPR for 4 min and the CPR quality was evaluated. The primary outcome was evaluated as the mean compression depth, and the secondary outcome was calculated as the proportion of chest compressions with an appropriate depth among the total chest compressions. Results: The mean compression depth was more deeper in conventional CPR than in compression-only CPR (57mm vs. 53mm, p <.001). The proportion of appropriate chest compression depth was also more higher in conventional CPR (98.8% vs. 68.6%, p <.001). As compared with every minute over time for a total of 4 min, the mean compression depth and the proportion of appropriate chest compression depth were deeper and higher after 1 min in conventional CPR than in compression-only CPR. Conclusion: The results suggested that conventional CPR is a better method than compression-only CPR in terms of chest compression quality.