ABSTRACT
We report a case of elderly COVID-19 pneumonia successfully treated with kakkonto in combination with shosaikotokakikyosekko confirmed by chest CT. The patient was an 82-year-old woman who complained fever, appetite loss and general fatigue. Her SARS-CoV-2 PCR showed positive and chest CT films showed pneumonia. She refused hospitalization and underwent medical treatment at home. We administered kakkonto in combination with shosaikotokakikyosekko. After 3 days, her fever decreased, and after 9 days, her subjective symptoms and pneumonia shadow on chest CT films markedly improved. Chest CT confirmed that the combined use of kakkonto and shosaikotokakikyosekko was also effective in elderly patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
ABSTRACT
Prior to the current pandemic caused by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there was a worldwide pandemic of H1N1 subtype influenza during 1918-1920. One of the most notable records of treatment in Japan is the story of Hiroaki Kimura in Tokyo. He used a formula including saikatsugekito and no patients died. The case was a 31-year-old woman testing positive for COVID-19 was treated with kakkonto (ge-gen-tang) and shosaikotokakikyosekko as an approximate prescription for saikatsugekito for one week from the first day of follow-up at the hotel. On the first day of treatment, the patient had severe headache, decreased oxygen saturation, increased heart rate and shortness of breath at rest as well as during physical activity, and the next day, smell and taste disorders appeared. However, by the time she left the hotel, these symptoms almost completely disappeared. This suggests the efficacy of combination of kakkonto and shosaikotokakikyosekko. Since COVID-19 often presents with symptoms of the interior organs from the early stage of the disease, combination of kakkonto and shosaikotokakikyosekko is considered to be one of the options of Kampo treatment for COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition caused by compression of the median nerve. Patients usually present with numbness and pain along the distribution of the median nerve in the hand. We report 2 cases of carpal tunnel syndrome successfully treated with kakkonto after their pattern diagnosis. We treated a 57-year-old women and a 59-year-old man. Two patients presented with hand pain and numbness and were diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. Kakkonto treatment was successfully in two cases. We observed that median nerve compression persisted in these patients even after disappearance of numbness and pain ; therefore, we recommended operative management. The 2 patients underwent an operation for carpal tunnel syndrome. Kakkonto can be considered useful palliative treatment before considering operative management for numbness and pain in the patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
ABSTRACT
The goal is to evaluate the efficacy of Kakkonto in the pregnant women who contacted the family member with influenza. Five pregnant women who did not want to take anti-influenza drugs were enrolled in this study. The pregnant weeks were : 5 weeks (Case A), 7 weeks (Case B), 8 weeks (Case C), 11 weeks (Case D), and 31 weeks (Case E), respectively. There was 1 infected influenza kid with (A) pregnant woman, and, there were 4 infected influenza husbands with another pregnant women. Study design was that these women took 7.5 g Kakkonto/5 days after contacting infected influenza families. After 3 weeks, Case A, who contacted a kid with influenza, had a fever up to 38 ℃. However, twice influenza tests showed negative. Other 4 cases (B, C, D, and E) had neither fever nor any kind of symptom. Finally, there were no side effect sign among these women and their neonatal babies. Kakkonto may prevent the onset of influenza among pregnant women who contacted the family member with influenza.
ABSTRACT
The number and the nature of reported side effects caused by over-the-counter Kampo formulations (OKF), as well as their changes over 10 years (fiscal years 2005 through 2014), were investigated using the data published on the website of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The total number of side effects reports regarding OKF was 367 during the period, including 151 reports of liver dysfunction, 54 reports of drug eruption/hypersensitivity, and 51 reports of lung injury. Annual incidence of reported side effects increased nearly threefold over the period, from 16 in 2005 to 43 in 2014. Bofutsushosan was involved in 110 cases, kakkonto in 45 cases, hachimijiogan in 15 cases, and daisaikoto in 14 cases. The number of side effects due to bofutsushosan and kakkonto showed an increasing trend during the period from 2005 to 2014. Bofutsushosan was associated with 65 cases of liver dysfunction and 23 cases of lung injury. Kakkonto was associated with 21 cases of drug eruption/hypersensitivity. Under the current circumstances, severe side effects requiring medical treatments such as liver dysfunction and lung injury are showing a tendency to increase. To improve safety, we recommend tighter control over the sale of OKF, especially bofutsushosan and kakkonto,which accounted for nearly half of all reported side effects.
ABSTRACT
Although the herbal preparation Kakkon-to is known to improve shoulder stiffness, there have been few studies attempting to elucidate the extent and mechanism of this effect. Kanebo Kakkon-to extract was administered orally to a group (n=19) of patients (pts) with shoulder stiffness (SS) at a dose of 2.5-7.5g/day, as well as to a group (n=9) of normal healthy subjects (NS). The effects and any side effects of Kakkon-to were then evaluated. The body surface temperature (BST) of the side of the neck was recorded from the Bide view position with a thermotracer before administration, after 30 minutes, after 60 minutes, after 90 minutes, and after 120 minutes. As for the general improvemant rates for this formula in the SS group, the rate of ‘remarkable improvement’ was 21.1%, ‘improvement’ 42.1%, and ‘slight improvement’ 15.8%. The overall utility rating, evaluated from the degree of improvement, was that the formula was considered ‘useful’ or better in 63.2% or the cases, and ‘slightly useful’ or better in 78.9% of the cases. Before administration of Kakkon-to, there was no significant difference between the BST of the SS group and that of the NS group, and no significant difference between the BST of improved pts in the SS group (n=12) and the BST of the Insufflciently improved pts in the SS group (n=7). The BST of the NS group 120 minutes after administration of Kakkon-to was higher than the pre-administration BST. There was no significant difference in the BST of the insufficiently improved pts of the SS group upon administration of Kakkon-to. The changes in the BST before and after administration of Kakkon-to were greater for the sufficiently improved SS group than for the insufficiently improved SS group or NS group. It was suspected that the effect of Kakkon-to on shoulder stiffness was due to improvement of blood circulation, as indicated by the higher BST.
ABSTRACT
It has hitherto been believed that Kakkon-to plus Senkyu-shin'i was invented by Japanese. In his article entitled “On the Development of the Kampo formula, Kakkon-to-ka-Senkyu-shin'i”, Terasawa wrote that there is no literature available up to 1940's which specified the addition of Shin'i and that there is no definite data concerning the source of Shin'i. I studied the addition of Senkyu and Shin'i taking the above into consideration. I discovered how Magnolia kobus had been replaced by Shin'i, that it is described in “Ben cao gang mu”, and that there were schools, such as Yoshimasu Todo's which never prescribed Shin'i. I also found that Kakkon-to combined with other herbs was used in the treatment of syphilis in the Edo era, and that there are combinations containing Senkyu, Shin'i, or Senkyu plus Shin'i, which were used according to the status of syphilid and to reduce adverse reactions of mercurial agents. In my present investigation, the closest formulation to Kakkon-to plus Senkyu-shin'i is Kakkon-to-combined-gomotsu-gedoku-to plus Shin'i.