Kyeore Bae

Acupuncture for Aromatase Inhibitor-Induced Arthralgia: A Systematic Review.

Background. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are commonly used as adjunctive hormone treatment for early breast cancer patients. The major side effect of AIs is arthralgia, which affects adherence. Previous reviews suggested that acupuncture is effective in the management of cancer-related pain. The aim of this review is to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on arthralgia caused by AIs. Methods. This article examined randomized controlled trials (RCTs) measuring the effects of acupuncture on joint symptoms caused by AIs within 8 medical databases till May 2014. The quality of the articles was evaluated according to the Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) tool. Results. Four RCTs were identified in medical journals. Two studies were conducted with manual acupuncture and 2 studies were electroacupuncture. The range of sample size was between 32 and 67. One RCT showed significant improvement in the acupuncture group compared with the sham control group and another RCT showed a statistical difference between the electroacupuncture and waitlist group. The other 2 studies showed no statistical differences between control and acupuncture groups. Two studies conducted blood analysis to elucidate the mechanism of efficacy of acupuncture for arthralgia. The 2 positive studies had a lower ROB and 2 studies had a high ROB. Conclusions. The systematic review suggests that acupuncture has potential benefits to improve arthralgia caused by AIs. However, further trials of adequate sample size, appropriate control group, and longer follow-up are necessary to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in AI-induced arthralgia.

Traditional Oriental Herbal Medicine and Natural Killer Cells for Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Traditional oriental herbal medicine (HM) is used by cancer patients to improve immunity. Natural killer (NK) cells are associated with development and progression of tumor and survival of cancer patients. This literature review examined randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in four electronic databases until October 2015 to evaluate the effects of oral HM on NK cells in cancer patients. Data were pooled and computed in a meta‐analysis. The methodological quality was assessed according to the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Sixteen RCTs involving 1326 cancer patients were identified. Combination of HM and conventional treatment was associated with significantly higher level of NK cells compared with conventional cancer treatments (standardized mean difference, 1.218; 95% confidence interval 0.719–1.717; p < 0.001). Eight RCTs reported statistically significant improvements in the proportions or activity of NK cells in patient groups who received both HM and conventional treatment compared with patients who received conventional treatment alone, while eight RCTs reported no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Studies (n = 16) included in this review had insufficient quality of evidence with unclear (n = 1) and high (n = 15) values of the risk of bias. Although traditional oriental HM may have the positive effects on preserving the level of NK cells in cancer patients receiving conventional treatments, current evidence is inconclusive because of lack of high‐quality evidence. Copyright

A Case of Patient with Recurring Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma Treated with Samchilchoongcho-Jung in Conjunction with Afatinib

Objective: The purpose of this study is to report the case of a patient with recurring non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) taking Samchilchoongcho-Jung with Afatinib. Methods: An NSCLC patient diagnosed with multiple bone and pulmonary metastasis was taking Afatinib (20 mg/day) and suffering from ...

The evaluation of changes in peripheral neuropathy and quality-of-life using low-frequency electrostimulation in patients treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer: a study protocol

BackgroundChemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a progressive, enduring, and sometimes irreversible neurotoxic symptom that occurs in 30–40% of chemotherapy-treated cancer patients. CIPN negatively affects both the patient’s abilities to perform daily activities and their health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after chemotherapy treatment. Although this neuropathy has been treated with duloxetine and/or gabapentin, limited therapeutic benefits have been reported, thereby necessitating the development of an integrated approach that combines pharmacological management and complementary methods such as acupuncture and electric nerve stimulation. Therefore, this study is designed to examine the effect of a portable, low-frequency electrostimulation (ES) device on CIPN symptoms and HRQOL of female patients diagnosed with CIPN immediately after chemotherapy for breast cancer.MethodsThis study is a single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with two parallel groups and a 2-week follow-up. We will enroll 80 breast cancer patients who are newly diagnosed with CIPN after chemotherapy. Duloxetine or pregabalin will be prescribed to all participants from the initial assessment. Half of the patients will be assigned into the experimental group and the other half to the control group. The CarebandR (Piomed Inc., Seoul, Korea), a wearable wristband that generates low-frequency electrostimulation, will be administered only to the experimental group. Electrostimulation will be administered on the unilateral PC6 acupoint. A numerical rating scale will be used to assess the overall intensity of CIPN symptoms. The key secondary outcome variables include patient-reported CIPN symptom distress tested by a self-rated questionnaire, physician-rated symptom severity assessed by the Total Neuropathy Score, and HRQOL.DiscussionIt is expected that the combination of a low-frequency electrostimulation device and pharmacological intervention (duloxetine or pregabalin) will produce synergistic effects in breast cancer patients with CIPN after treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the beneficial effect of a new integrated approach for CIPN management after breast cancer treatment. The study findings can expand our knowledge and understanding of the occurrence of CIPN and the efficacy of integrated intervention efforts to ameliorate CIPN symptoms.Trial registrationClinical Research Information Service (CRIS), Republic of Korea, ID: KCT0002357. Registered retrospectively on 13 June 2017.

Benefit of Adjuvant Traditional Herbal Medicine With Chemotherapy for Resectable Gastric Cancer

Introduction: Stomach cancer, historically, has a low survival rate advances in curative resection procedures. Objectives: To assess the potential benefits of traditional herbal medicines in conjunction with chemotherapy in postoperative gastric cancer patients in terms of overall survival and disease-free survival. Data Sources: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, a Chinese database (CNKI), a Korean database, a Japanese database, AMED, and CINAHL up to September 2016. We summarized survival data from all RCTs. Study Selection: All RCTs of oral traditional medicines for resectable gastric cancer compared with chemotherapy alone were eligible. Data Extraction: Thirteen eligible trials with survival data (1075 patients) were deemed eligible for inclusion. Results: There were 217 documented deaths of the 574 patients assigned to adjuvant traditional medicines groups and 319 documented deaths of the 501 patients assigned to the chemotherapy-only groups. Adjuvant traditional medicines were associated with a statistically significant benefit in terms of overall survival rate (hazard ratio = 0.56; 95% confidence interval = 0.47-0.66; P < .00001) and disease-free survival (hazard ratio = 0.54; 95% confidence interval = 0.43-0.66; P < .00001). Conclusion: Among the RCTs included, the inclusion of postoperative adjuvant traditional medicines was associated with reduced risk of death in gastric cancer patients, when survival rates were compared with the group of patients who received chemotherapy alone. However, most of the included studies utilized are thought to be of low quality, so it would certainly appear that more trials are both advisable and necessary to arrive at correct and convincing conclusions.

Correlation Between Natural Killer Cell Activity and Systemic Inflammatory Markers for Heterogeneous Cancer Patients Treated With Wheel Balance Cancer Therapy

Background and Objective: Natural killer (NK) cells are known to have an effect on the prevention of tumorigenesis for the initial cancer, as well as the metastatic cancer. For the past several years, the relationship between cancer and inflammation has been actively studied in preclinical and clinical settings, but there are no reports on alterations in and correlation for NK cell activity (NKA) and systemic inflammatory markers. Accordingly, this study aimed to measure correlation between NKA and the levels of other systemic inflammatory markers in patients with gastric, breast, and pancreatic cancer who received Wheel Balance Cancer Therapy (WBCT). Methods: Forty-two electronic charts of patients with gastric, breast, and pancreatic cancer treated with WBCT from February 1, 2015 to September 30, 2015, were reviewed retrospectively. These charts were statistically analyzed, looking for alterations of and correlation for NKA and the expressions of systemic inflammatory markers. Results: Patients with a NKA of under 300 pg/mL at admission showed significantly higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values and decreasing NLR values due to WBCT than patients with an NKA greater than 300 pg/mL. As a result of the correlation analysis between NKA and the levels of the systemic inflammatory markers, NKA showed significant negative correlation with NLR, ESR, and fibrinogen values. Conclusions: Negative correlation was identified between NKA and NLR, NKA and ESR, and NKA and fibrinogen in patients with heterogeneous cancer patients.

A Case Series of Snake Venom Pharmacopuncture for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Retrospective Observational Study

Objective This case series aims to report the efficacy and the safety of using snake venom pharmacopuncture (SVP) for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Methods Three heterogeneous cancer (1 endometrium, 1 cervix, and 1 prostate cancer) patients were referred to the East-West Cancer Center (EWCC), Dunsan Korean Medicine Hospital of Daejeon University, from August 02, 2017, to September 15, 2017, for treatment with SVP, and they were treated with SVP 4 times, 6 times, and 8 times, respectively. During the treatment period, the efficacy of SVP therapy was assessed by using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE), and the stability was evaluated by using blood tests. Following each session, all patients were examined closely for any allergenic responses or adverse effects. Results All patients showed noticeable improvements of their NRS and CTCAE scores. Except for bleeding and bruising at the SVP injection site, no major side effects were noted. One of the patients reported mild chilling and a sore throat after receiving the second treatment; those symptoms went away after a few hours. No hematologic toxicity, hepatotoxicity, or nephrotoxicity was found on the blood test. Conclusion The results of this research suggest positive potential benefits of using SVP for treating patients with CIPN. Also, the excellent safety results of SVP seen in this research should lead to larger clinical trials aimed at developing SVP into a potential intervention for managing patients with the symptoms of CIPN.