ABSTRACT
Female organ ptosis, especially uterine prolapse, is a delibilitative, dysfunctional condition of the supporting pelvic floor system of ligaments, connective tissues and muscles which manifests during pregnancy, delivery, or post-menopause. The Japanese Kampo herbal formula “hochuekkito” has been reportedly applied to uterine prolapse based on its putative ability to rejuvenate body vitality (Qi) and raise declined Qi. We assessed the efficacy of hochuekkito for uterine prolapse based on observations of its effect on clinical and objective symptoms. We administered hochuekkito to 17 patients (62.6 ± 7.1years) diagnosed with modern techniques as having uterine prolapse. The results showed that it was very effective in 6 cases (35.7%), effective in 9 cases (52.9%), and ineffective in 2 cases (11.8%). 10 patients with pessaries were all found to have been treated effectively (very effective : 4, effective : 6). In 6 patients whose compliance was below 90%, the percentage of very effective cases was 75%. The effectiveness score of hochuekkito with pelvic exercise (1.5 ± 0.5) and with pessaries (1.4 ± 0.5) was significantly higher than that with hochuekkito alone (0.8 ± 0.8) (p < 0.05). Finally, for uterine prolapse and bladder prolapse, the addition of pelvic exercise and pessaries to hochuekkito brought about more prompt improvement than that with hochuekkito alone. The increased efficacy with the addition of pelvic exercise or a pessary also helped strengthen atonic pelvic muscles, thus synergistically working together with the effects of hochuekkito.