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.

A Case of Sleep Apnea Syndrome Improved after Administration of Hange-koboku-to / 日本東洋医学雑誌

We report a case of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome effectively treated with Hange-koboku-to. A 32-year-old male suffered from globus syndrome (globus hystericus), excessive daytime sleepiness and snoring. He underwent uvulopalatopharyngoplasty at the age of 27, but the symptoms did not improve after surgery. Nocturnal polysomnography, performed before administration of Hange-koboku-to, confirmed the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. After 1-month-administration of Hange-koboku-to extract (Tsumura Co. Ltd., 7.5g/day), his complaints almost disappeared. After 5-month-administration of Hange-koboku-to, nocturnal polysomnography was performed again. As a result, the apnea index fell from 19.2 events/hour to 10.3 events/hour, and the apnea-hypopnea index also fell from 19.2 events/hour to 12.8 events/hour. He was not obese (body mass index: 23.0kg/m²), and no significant body weight change was observed after administration. No adverse effect was observed. To our knowledge, there is no other report on the treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders with Hange-koboku-to. We presume that Hange-koboku-to may decrease the upper airway resistance, especially at the lower part of the upper airway.