Impact of Kampo Therapy on the Second Derivative of the Photoplethysmogram (SDPTG) / 日本東洋医学雑誌

ABSTRACT

The effect of Kampo therapy (Japanese traditional herbal medicine) on the second derivative of the photoplethysmogram (SDPTG) was investigated. The SDPTG is the second derivative of the fingertip photoplethysmogram (PTG), which expresses the characteristics of the vascular system, the properties of peripheral vessels, and the state of blood flow. The subjects comprised 13 normal volunteers, 101 patients (21 males and 80 females; mean age 53±11 years) with 1 month of Kampo therapy, and 19 patients (4 males and 15 females; mean age 60±9 years) with 3 months of medication. Control subjects showed no significant changes in their vascular age after 1 month. Patients with a higher vascular age than expected before therapy showed improvement of their vascular age, after treatment for 1 month and 3 months. The difference between the vascular age and calendar age decreased from about 10 to 7 years after 1 month of therapy (n=65. p<0.001), and from about 9 to 4 years, after 3 months (n=11, p<0.01). Vascular age not only reflects organic vessel wall sclerosis due to arteriosclerosis, but also a vascular wall tone that is closely related to the autonomic nervous system. The change of vascular age within a relatively short period suggested a functional change rather than an organic change of the vessels.