Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease of the joint cartilage with no definite treatment in the early stage. Several previous review studies have shown that alternative medical treatments, including acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicines, are effective in improving the symptoms of the disease and the patient's quality of life. However, no systematic review study has shown the effectiveness of the combination of conventional and alternative therapies. Therefore, the aim of our study is to determine the most effective combination therapies and to provide evidence for the effectiveness and safety of integrated therapies. This article describes the protocol for the methods that will be applied in our systematic review. Methods: We will conduct an electronic search of nine databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Google Scholar (first 100 articles), four Korean databases (KoreaMed, Korean
Background: Lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (LHIVD) is a frequently presented condition/disease in Korean medical institutions. In this study, the economics of thread embedding acupuncture (TEA) was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial comparing TEA with sham TEA (STEA).Methods: This economic evaluation was analyzed from a limited social perspective, and the per-protocol set was from a basic analysis perspective. The cost-effectiveness analysis was based on the change in visual analog scale score, and the cost-utility analysis was based on the quality-adjusted life years. The final results were expressed as the average cost-effectiveness ratio and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, and furthermore sensitivity analysis was performed to confirm the robustness of the results observed.Results: The cost-effectiveness analysis showed that TEA was 9,908 won lower than STEA, while the decrease in 100 mm visual analog scale score was 8.5 mm greater in the TEA group compared with the STEA group (p > 0.05). The cost-utility analysis showed that TEA was 9,908 won lower than STEA, while the quality-adjusted life years of TEA was 0.0026 years higher than STEA (p > 0.05). These results were robust in the sensitivity analysis, but were not statistically significant.Conclusion: In treating LHIVD, TEA appeared to have cost-effectiveness and cost-utility compared with STEA. However, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of cost, effectiveness, and utility indicators. Therefore, results must be interpreted prudently; this study was the 1<sup>st</sup> to conduct an economic evaluation of TEA for LHIVD.
Background: In this retrospective study, we aimed to determine which diagnostic tests were associated with an improvement in Bell’s palsy symptoms. Methods: There were 30 patients who visited Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital from April 1, 2017 to February 29, 2020, and who received East-West collaboration treatment for Bell’s palsy. The tests included electroneurography (ENoG), electromyography (EMG), hematology, and heart rate variability (HRV) results which were used to determine if any test correlated with improvement of Bell’s palsy symptoms. Results: The initial severity of symptoms did not correlate with the tests performed, with the exception of mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (p = 0.013). For both ENoG for oculi degeneration and mean EMG tests, the rate of nerve degeneration showed a significant negative correlation with the improvement of Bell’s palsy symptoms. Amongst the HRV test indicators, the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between the adjacent normal R-R wave interval, the standard deviation of intervals, total power, very low frequency, and high frequency of the wave was negatively correlated with improvement of Bell’s palsy symptoms. Similarly, glycosylated hemoglobin Type A1c (HbA1c) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) showed a negative correlation with improvement of symptoms of Bell’s palsy. With the exception of HbA1c and ESR, the remaining hematology test results showed no significant difference when comparing before and after treatment. Conclusion: ENoG, EMG, HRV test, HbA1c, and ESR negatively correlated with improvements in Bell’s palsy symptoms and may determine the prognosis of Bell’s palsy.
Background: We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of oriental medicine (OM) treatments as monotherapy and add-on therapy compared to conventional treatments for knee osteoarthritis and assess the quality of evidence for these results. OM treatment included acupuncture, herbal medicine, pharmacoacupuncture, and moxibustion. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Google Scholar, 4 Korean medical databases (KoreaMed, Korean Studies Information Service System, Research Information Service System, and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System), and one Chinese database (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched for articles published between January 1, 2000, and January 1, 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effect of OM interventions, single or combined with conventional treatments, on knee osteoarthritis were searched. The risk of bias and quality of evidence of the included studies were evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methods, respectively. Results: A total of 3911 relevant studies were retrieved and only 23 studies were included for systematic review. Most of the studies showed a significant effect on knee osteoarthritis. 21 studies comparing single OM treatment with conventional treatment were included in the meta-analysis. The effect size of standardized mean difference (SMD) was analyzed as a “small effect” with 0.48 (95% CI −0.80 to −0.16, Z = 2.98, P = .003). In addition, a meta-analysis of 4 studies comparing integrative treatment with conventional treatment showed a “very large effect” with 1.52 (95% CI −2.09 to −0.95, Z = 5.19, P < .001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that single OM treatment and integrative treatment significantly reduce pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis. However, there is a limited number of RCTs considering integrative treatment which implies more related RCTs should be conducted in the future.
This literature review was designed to investigate the effects of the microneedle therapy system (MTS) on alopecia in experimental, and clinical studies. The MTS is acupuncture needling therapy delivered by a roller. A literature review of studies published before May 2020 was conducted using 9 online databases, and a total of 13 studies (4 in vivo studies and 9 clinical trials) were included. Most studies showed that the MTS was effective when used in combination with other treatments. In vivo studies reported an increased level of hair growth factors following treatment. Typically, 1.5 mm needles were used in the MTS treatment and photographic evaluation (by either camera or microscope) was reported in most studies. Oriental medicine research included 2 in vivo studies, which reported positive effects when combined with the MTS. There were no reported severe side effects. the MTS might be safe and has a drug delivery effect. Further studies need to be conducted regarding the frequency and needle length depending on the type of alopecia using Oriental and Western medicine.
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