• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.127-145
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of oriental-western medicine integrative care after gynecology surgery by DSOM((Diagnosis System of Oriental Medicine) and improvement of major symptoms. Methods: 66 patients belonged to the experimental group and 47 patients belonged to the control group out of 113 patients taken gynecology surgery. We studied general characteristics and difference on DSOM results between the two groups. And we had patients answer questionnaires about major symptoms such as abdominal discomfort, headache, fatigue, urinary discomfort, constipation, lumbago, edema, tingling, digestive disorder, cough, pruritus, arthralgia, cold feeling by VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) in order to analyze improvement and difference between two groups. Results: Experimental group had significantly high score on deficiency of blood, blood stasis, dryness, spleen, kidney, phlegm and high frequency on deficiency of blood, dampness, kidney, phlegm pathogenesis in DSOM. It had significantly high intensity in symptoms of abdominal discomfort, headache, fatigue, urinary discomfort, constipation, lumbago at the first time, and headache at 1 month after western hospital discharge out of symptoms associated with surgery. And it had significantly high improvement in symptoms of abdominal discomfort, headache, urinary discomfort, constipation at oriental-western integrative hospital discharge, and headache, fatigue, urinary discomfort, constipation, lumbago at 1 month after western hospital discharge out of symptoms associated with surgery. Conclusion: We recognized that oriental-western medicine integrative care after gynecology surgery has significant effect.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.112-117
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• 2009

Objective: Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) has anticancer effect confirmed by preclinical studies and historical records. We thus tried to evaluate retrospectively the effect of RVS as a complementary medicine for patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showing refractory to conventional chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: From June 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, patients with advanced NSCLC who received both the standardized RVS extract and a standard course of second or more line therapy such as pemetrexed ($Alimta^{(R)}$), erlotinib ($Tarceva^{(R)}$), and gefitinib ($Iressa^{(R)}$) were checked. A total of 13 patients were eligible for the final analysis after fulfilling inclusion/exclusion criteria. Time to progression (TTP) of these patients treated with the standardized RVS extract was checked in the aftercare period. Results: Patients received RVS treatment for a median period of 296 (range 84-698) days. The median TTP was 220.5 (range 36-489) days, and three patients (23.1%) had TTP values of 15 more months. No significant side effects from RVS treatment have been observed. Conclusion: The standardized RVS extract might have synergetic effects by assisting apoptosis in advanced NSCLC with concurrent standard therapy agents, since it prolonged TTP without significant adverse effects. This study suggests that the standardized RVS extract is beneficial to patients with chemotherapy-refractory NSCLC. Further clinical trials and preclinical studies are necessary to determine the efficacy and safety of the standardized RVS extract in NSCLC.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.29-38
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• 2020

Purpose : The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of barefoot walking on the sandy beach on pain intensity, disability, motor function, sleep satisfaction, and quality of life in the elderly with low back pain (LBP). Methods : A single-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 32 elderly with LBP who underwent sand walking barefoot (intervention, n=16) or with sneakers (control, n = 16). Both walking methods were carried out for 30 minutes per day, three times a week for four weeks. Pain intensity and disability were assessed using the visual analog scale and Oswestry disability index, respectively. Balance and gait were evaluated using the Berg balance scale and timed up and go test, respectively. Sleep satisfaction was quantified with the Verran and Snyder-Halpern sleep scale. Finally, quality of life was assessed through the WHO quality of life scale's abbreviated Korean version. Results : Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed significant differences in pain intensity (p=.005), disability due to LBP (p=.002), static balance ability (p=.003), dynamic balance ability (p=.002), and sleep satisfaction (p=.017). There was no significant difference in the quality of life between the two groups. Conclusion : Barefoot walking on a sandy beach is significantly effective in improving pain, disability due to LBP, balance ability, and sleep satisfaction in the elderly with LBP. Further studies with larger sample sizes and longer intervention periods must to be conducted to generalize using barefoot walking in LBP management.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.178-184
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• 2023

The objective of this study was to develop a critical pathway of integrative medicine to improve the quality of life of lung cancer patients who received standard western medicine treatments. A total of 10 medical professionals, including western and Korean medicine doctors, and nurses participated in a validation survey and revised clinical pathway. Then we applied the critical pathway to 11 lung cancer patients who admitted at Korean medicine hospital and evaluated quality of life at the beginning and discharge of admission using European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire(EORTC QLQ). More than 80% of the respondents gave a score of 3 (appropriate) or more for all items in the validation survey and we modified the clinical pathway by adding 'bed rest'to the activity item. When applying the revised critical pathway to 11 lung cancer patients, the score of 'Nausea and vomiting', 'Insomnia' in EORTC QLQ-30 and 'chest pain'in EORTC LC-13 showed statistically significant improvements in the before-and-after admission comparision. The application of revised inpatient critical pathway of integrative medicine for lung cancer showed improvement in some symptoms. Development of more critical pathway in various clinical setting and larger scaled application studies of critical pathway are needed.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.94-98
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• 2023

A forty-three-year-old male patient was diagnosed with an acute abscess in the dorsum of the right hand. On the 5th day of conventional pharmacological therapy the patient was still suffering, and was referred to the Outpatient department (OPD) to evacuate and drain the abscess and treat the edema around the area with Hijama (wet cupping therapy, WCT). The hand abscess was successfully cured within a week using an integrative approach of wet cupping therapy together with conventional drug therapy.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2021

Purpose : Our study aimed to compare the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and light-emitting diode therapy (LEDT) for chronic pain intensity reduction and body temperature increase in older adults with chronic pain. Methods : Overall, 144 of 332 participants' records were used in this retrospective chart review. The study was conducted at a private health center in Busan city and the integrative medical center of a tertiary care hospital in Daegu city, South Korea. Patients experiencing chronic pain for over 6 months were assigned to either the LLLT or LEDT group. Both groups underwent 16 sessions of phototherapy held twice a week for 8 weeks, with each session lasting 60 minutes. The primary outcomes for both groups were the mean visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and body temperatures in both groups. The secondary outcome was the correlation between changes in body temperature and pain intensity. Measurements were recorded at the baseline and at each follow-up session. Results : A decrease in pain intensity and an increase in body temperature (p<.001) were observed in both groups. There was a significant difference in the VAS scores and temperature changes between the groups (p<.001). Odditionally, there were significant differences in the patterns of change in the VAS score and body temperature between the groups as the sessions progressed (p<.01), and a strong inverse correlation between body temperature and pain intensity changes were observed (p<.01). Conclusion : The use of photobiomodulation therapy at a specific wavelength may improve pain severity and simultaneously increase the body temperature among elderly people with chronic pain.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2013

Objectives : The aim of this report is to evaluate antitumor efficacy of Rhus vernifciflua STOKES decoction (Chijong-tang). Methods : One advanced gastric cancer patient with peritoneal seeding and mesenteric metastasis visited Hana integrative Clinic of Korean medicine in Aug 2012 and was treated with Chijong-tang for 14 months. Results : Chijong-tang showed no side effect during its treatment (Aug 2012 ~ Oct 2013) and the patient showed no disease progression. Conclusion : This case report suggests that Rhus vernifciflua Stokes decoction (Chijong-tang) can be a potent anticancer agent for gastric cancer, but it still required further scientific and clinical evidence.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.553-558
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• 2022

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is dangerous cancer that often evades early detection because it is asymptomatic and an effective detection method is lacking. For people with chronic liver inflammation who are at high risk of developing HCC, a sensitive detection method for HCC is needed. In a meta-analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas pan-cancer methylation database, we identified a CpG island in the USP44 promoter that is methylated specifically in HCC. We developed methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM) analysis to measure the methylation levels of the USP promoter in cell-free DNA isolated from patients. Our MS-HRM assay correctly identified 40% of patients with early-stage HCC, whereas the α-fetoprotein test, which is currently used to detect HCC, correctly identified only 25% of early-stage HCC patients. These results demonstrate that USP44 MS-HRM analysis is suitable for HCC surveillance.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2013

Objectives The aims of this study was to observe the effectiveness of East-West Integrative Medicine (EWIM) by analysing between EWIM estimated group and Non-EWIM eastimated group with Brain Rehabilitation Registry. Methods We divided hospitals into two groups, one is EWIM estimated group hospital (Kyeonghee university, Wonkwang university, Dongguk university) and the other is non-EWIM estimated group (Jeonnam university, Gyeongbuk university, Catholic university). Then we analysed the effectiveness of treatments retrospectively using the database of Brain Rehabilitation Registry (http://www.kbrr.or.kr/, version 1.0). Totally 293 patients were included, EWIM estimated group was 175 and non-EWIM estimated group was 118. The main outcome measurements were National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and Mini Mental State Examination-Korea (MMSE-K). Results Changes of NIHSS was not significant in both total patient and patient who treated over 3 weeks. MMSE-K showed positively significant difference (p=0.044) in EWIM estimated group patients who treated over 3 weeks. In case of MBI, EWIM estimated group showed more effective result and also statistically significant in both total patients and patients who treated over 3 weeks. Conclusions We patially argued that EWIM estimated group was more effective than non-EWIM estimated group in stroke patients' functional recovery. We suggested base data of EWIM in stroke patiens through this study and this could be applied future researches of developing modified EWIM system.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to discuss the role of integrative medicine (IM) in contemporary health care settings, and how and which factors affect and facilitate the success of IM in terms of the integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and conventional medicine in primary health care (PHC). IM is meant to provide the best possible health care, for both patient and physician. The way of IM use in the developed countries presents various ways that IM can be provided, and it appears that strategies have been successfully developed to facilitate integration. Although few of the barriers to the integration of CAM and conventional medicine have been resolved, concerns over the legitimacy of CAM in health care (e.g., safety, biomedical evidence, and efficacy) are being overcome by the use of evidence-based practice in IM delivery. There are dominant models of IM that have been developed. The model types signify different levels of equity between CAM and conventional medicine in regard to the power, autonomy, and control held by each. However, the factors common to all IM models, whether describing CAM as supplementary or complementary to conventional medicine, is the concept of a health care model that aspires to be client-centred and holistic, with focus on health rather than disease as well as mutual respect among peer practitioners. Finally, this study concluded that the growth and viability of traditional Korean medicine(TKM) depend on evidence-based practices and identifying the successful influences on the integration of TKM and conventional medicine for recognition of its inherent value in PHC. Some recommendations for the integration of TKM and conventional medicine were suggested.