Kampo Treatment for Respiratory Tract Diseases / 日本東洋医学雑誌

Kampo treatment for respiratory diseases on the traditional standard including some care reports lectured. To find adequate Kampo prescription for each patient, it need to discriminate what is the cause of the symptoms, throat, nose, chest or low respiratory function. Some patients whose obstructive feeling at throat was improved by the adiministration of Hange-koboku-to, was introduced. Anxiety at throat was an important sign for its indication in these patients. This prescription was also applicated to sleep-disordered breathing. On treatment for chronic rhinitis that caused respiratory symptoms the pulse diagnosis was an important technique for the diagnosis of stasis of body fluids. Kampo treatment for common cold, chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma and interstitial pneumonia were told as chest diseases. Kampo prescriptions for chronic bronchitis were classified by the characteristics of cough (dry or wet) and Kyo-Jitsu (asthenia or robust). Pediatric asthma patients who respond to the prescriptions with tonic effect including Sho-kenchu-to, was considered to increase recently. A case with interstital pneumonia improved with Bukuryo-kyonin-kanzo-to, was introduced and adequate Kampo prescription for this disease was discussed with some previous reports. Hachimi jio-gan increased peak flow rate of asthmatic patients with low respiratory function and the difference of indication to Bakumi-jio-gan-ryo was discussed.

The Tradition and the Development of the Japanese Kampo-Medicine / 日本東洋医学雑誌

The historical circumstances about the application of the Japanese Kampo-medicine on the point of clinical view are the following that the original directions of the Chinese medical classics have been strictly adhered in China while the directions of those have been remarkably developed in Japan after the import. Now the Japanese Kampo-medecine are based upon these recent developments as well as the current pharmacological studies. Several clinical casereports are demonstrated who are treated with Daisaiko-to, Hachimijio-gan, and Hochuekki-to.<br>Finally the noteworthy opinions by Sensai Nagayo who laid the foundation of the medical system in modern Japan are quoted from his autobiography. Namely the really valuable new medicine should be established with the combination of both the western medicine and the Kampo-medicine.

The Effects of Hachimi-jio-gan on Chronic Asthma. The First Report / 日本東洋医学雑誌

In this paper, the authors report four case studies of patients with chronic asthma who improved with the administration of Hachimijio-gan (in pill form). The patients involved were three women aged 63, 57 and 41, and one man, aged 42.<br>In all of the cases, asthma attacks began in adulthood and occurred perennially. They were classified into three grades of severity: patient 1-mild; patient 2-moderate; patients 3 and 4-severe. The standard indications for usage (Sho) in Kampo medicine were confirmed in all four cases. The asthmatic state of patient 1 improved with administration of Hachimi-jio-gan M (Uchida Wakanyaku Inc.), but produced no response in the other three patients. However, when Hachimi-jio-gan pills that were made by hand using the steamed root of Rehmaniae Radix were administered, improvement was seen in the asthmatic state of the other three patients as well. With improvement in the asthmatic state of all patients involved, attack scores decreased, treatment scores decreased and peak expiratory flow rates in the early morning increased. Patient 3 was able to discontinue use of oral corticosteroid drugs, and patient 4 was able to decrease the dosage.<br>The results suggest that Hachimi-jio-gan improves the respiratory function in patients with chronic asthma, and that the clinical effect was increased when the steamed root of Rehmaniae Radix is used in place of the dry root.