| Crohn’s disease (CD) is an idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with unknown etiopathogenesis. Currently there are no definitive treatment modalities for CD. This case report presents clinical remission and its maintenance of CD induced by Korean herbal medicine treatment. A 56-year-old male patient diagnosed as CD by capsule endoscopy presented to a Korean Medicine clinic with severe abdominal pain as a chief complaint. Despite taking 5-aminosalicylic acid and immunosuppressant for 2 years, his abdominal pain was worsening at the time of visit. Treatment was initiated with Jinmoo-tang based on pattern identification and continued for approximately a year with some modifications according to patient’s symptom changes. He was mainly given Jinmoo-Tang for a year and clinical remission was achieved; he could stop taking western medications. For 6 years since then, he took Korean medicine from time to time when he felt his condition went down and he is still maintaining remission. There were no adverse events reported. This case report suggests that individualized Korean herbal medicine treatment may have the potential for induction and maintenance of clinical remission of CD. Further research is warranted to establish an evidence-base for such approach. |
| This study aim to report 4 cases with chronic abdominal pain whose symptoms are alleviated by Sihogyeji-tanggagam with Korean medicine treatments. The patients were decided to administer Sihogyeji-tanggagam through abdominal examination. The patients were treated by Korean medicine, including acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine (Sihogyeji-tanggagam). We used Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS), Abdominal examination, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and Subjective Unit of Clinical Symptoms to evaluate the progress of treatments. The improvement of clinical symptoms appeared to be effective with out any remarkable side effects. The abdominal pain of all patients stared to improve as soon as treatment begin, and disappeared in 1-2 weeks. We also confirmed that the abdominal symptoms improved together with the improvement of clinical symptoms. This study suggests that Sihogyeji-tanggagam is effective on reducing symptoms of chronic abdominal pain, but further studies should be followed. |
| Mibyeong (sub-health) is a concept that represents the sub-health in traditional East Asian medicine. Assuming that the nose sizes and shapes are related to respiratory function, in this study, we hypothesized that the nose size and shape features are related to the self-rated health (SRH) level and self-rated Mibyeong severity, and aimed to assess this relationship using a fully automated image analysis system. The nose size features were evaluated from the frontal and profile face images of 810 participants. The nose size features consisted of five length features, one area feature, and one volume feature. The level of SRH and the Mibyeong severity were determined using a questionnaire. The normalized nasal height was negatively associated with the self-rated health score (SRHS) (partial ρ = -0.125, p = 3.53E-04) and the Mibyeong score (MBS) (partial ρ = -.172, p = 9.38E-07), even after adjustment for sex, age, and body mass index. The normalized nasal volume (ρ = -.105, p = 0.003), the normalized nasal tip protrusion length (ρ = -.087, p = 0.014), and the normalized nares width (ρ = -.086, p = .015) showed significant correlation with the SRHS. The normalized nasal area (ρ = -.118, p = 0.001), the normalized nasal volume (ρ = -.107, p = .002) showed significant correlation with the MBS. The wider, longer, and larger the nose, the lower the SRHS and MBS, indicating that health status can be estimated based on the size and shape features of the nose. |
| This study was conducted to find objective diagnostic indicators for the Eight Principle Pattern Identification using a pulse wave analyzer. Typology Complexion Pulse and Symptom data from 500 women over the age of 18 were used. Five experts made a diagnosis of Eight Principle Pattern Identification and divided the subjects into 'Yin-Yang', 'Exterior-Interior', 'Cold-Heat', 'Deficiency-Excess' groups. Their pulse waves were measured in the left and right radial arteries, and it was investigated whether there was a significant difference between groups in the pulse wave parameter values. 'Yin' group showed a significantly lower value in the left radial artery for Ener, Emin, EIX, T4T, T4TT parameters and in the Right for T2, T2T, T5. The Vmag, As and Ad parameters were significantly different between the 'Exterior' and 'Interior' groups. 'Heat' group showed a significantly higher value in the right radial artery for RAI/t parameter. 'Deficiency' group showed a significantly higher value in the right radial artery for W, Angl parameters. Through this study, significant pulse wave parameters were found, and they can be used as objective diagnostic indicators for Eight Principle Pattern Identification. |
