In Kampo medicine, abdominal palpation is essential procedure to make the diagnosis of Sho. We experienced two cases of abdominal aortic aneurysm which are diagnosed by means of abdominal palpation. The coexistence of aneurysm and the sign of abdominal palpitation is extremely rare, but every clinician should pay attention to this fact.

Enterovaginal fistula, which causes uncontrollable symptoms such as gas release, vaginal defecation, perineal erosion, and vaginitis, markedly reduces patients' quality of life. In this report, we present a case of successful treatment for enterovaginal fistula with Kampo medicine.
A 62 year-old female who had ileoanal canal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis developed symptoms of gas release and defecation from the vagina. Although these symptoms had disappeared with conventional medicine previously, they recurred 7 years later. There was no medical indication for surgery because the fistula could not be located by barium enema or endoscopic examination. She, therefore, visited our outpatient clinic 1 and a half years after all conventional management had ended in vain.
Her symptoms were slightly improved by the administration of ifutokaogi, a Kampo formula, although they persisted. Three months after switching her prescription to another Kampo formula, goreisan, her symptoms completely disappeared.
In recent years, there has been no report on goreisan for the successful treatment of enterovaginal fistulae. Our case suggests that Kampo medicine can be an option for the treatment of enterovaginal fistula refractory to conventional treatments.

We reported a case of a 69-year-old male who had been diagnosed with left eye glaucoma with surgical indication complicated by an eyesight view obstacle. His left intraocular pressure did not decrease regardless of the eye drop treatment he underwent at another hospital. At the initial visit to our hospital, his left intraocular pressure was 27 mmHg. As we noted marked tympanitic sounds in his abdomen, we prescribed hangekobokuto. After one month of his medication, his left eye intraocular pressure fell to 22 mmHg ; furthermore, the marked abdominal tympanitic sounds disappeared. Two years after his initial treatment, his left intraocular pressure still stayed generally within the normal range, and it did not require surgery. In this case, predominant sympathetic nervous system may have been the mechanism behind some cases of increased intraocular pressure ; therefore, the possibility that hangekobokuto reduces intraocular pressure by acting on this was suggested. As there have been no such reports that hangekobokuto itself has an effect on intraocular pressure decrease, this is considered as a novel case.

We report a case of prolonged lumbago with severe cold intolerance successfully treated with keppuchikuoto and uzushakusekishigan. The patient was a 71-year-old female with lumbar spinal canal stenosis which was refractory to several nerve and intervertebral disc block therapies and oral medications. She had been also suffering from constipation, leg cramps, intermittent chest pains, and severe cold intolerance. We prescribed keppuchikuoto for chronic blood stagnation and deficiency and uzushakusekishigan for intermittent chest pains in order to improve those symptoms all together. The severity of her lumbago and severe cold intolerance were remarkably reduced after the administration of the two formulas. This case suggests that the two formulas exerted their effectiveness by ameliorating chronic severe cold intolerance, blood stagnation, and blood deficiency and resulted in remarkable improvement in lumbago.

As the elderly society grows, polypharmacy becomes a problem in clinical practice. Until now, some Kampo treatments have been reported to be useful for polypharmacy caused by western-­style medicines. But this report shows that Kampo medicines in themselves could be the cause of polypharmacy. In fact, multiple Kampo prescriptions from several medical agencies are given to one patient in Japan. From the view point of proper use of Kampo prescriptions, medical experts and entire business fields related to Kampo medicine should take measures rapidly for so­-called “Kampo polypharmacy” after analyzing the actual situation.

  Background: The traditional Japanese style of soaking in a hot bath is a lifestyle custom for many citizens, no study had ever investigated the association between bathing as a lifestyle practice and the onset of long-term depression. Through a large-scale six-year longitudinal study, we aimed to determine whether tub bathing as a lifestyle custom plays a role in preventing the onset of long-term depression.  Methods: Of 11,882 individuals who responded to surveys conducted in 2010 and 2016 as part of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (the JAGES) project, we analyzed 6,452 and 6,465 individuals for whom information was available regarding summer bathing frequency and winter bathing frequency, respectively; all of these individuals were independent, had a Geriatric Depression Scale (hereafter, “GDS”) score of ≤4, and did not suffer from depression. The cohort study involved dividing participants into a group of those who bathed 0-6 times a week and a group of those who bathed ≥7 times a week and determining the percentages of individuals who developed depression based on their GDS scores six years later. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine odds ratios for the association between depression onset and tub bathing.   Results: For individuals who tub bathed ≥7 times a week, the odds ratios for depression onset versus individuals who bathed 0-6 times a week in summer and winter were 0.84 (95% confidence interval, 0.64-1.10) and 0.76 (95% confidence interval, 0.59-0.98), respectively. Tub bathing ≥7 times a week in winter significantly reduced the risk of depression onset.  Conclusions: New-onset depression was shown to be infrequent in older adults who bathe in a tub frequently. Tub bathing was suggested to potentially contribute to the prevention of depression in the elderly.

  Background: The traditional Japanese style of soaking in a hot bath is a lifestyle custom for many citizens, no study had ever investigated the association between bathing as a lifestyle practice and the onset of long-term depression. Through a large-scale six-year longitudinal study, we aimed to determine whether tub bathing as a lifestyle custom plays a role in preventing the onset of long-term depression.  Methods: Of 11,882 individuals who responded to surveys conducted in 2010 and 2016 as part of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (the JAGES) project, we analyzed 6,452 and 6,465 individuals for whom information was available regarding summer bathing frequency and winter bathing frequency, respectively; all of these individuals were independent, had a Geriatric Depression Scale (hereafter, “GDS”) score of ≤4, and did not suffer from depression. The cohort study involved dividing participants into a group of those who bathed 0-6 times a week and a group of those who bathed ≥7 times a week and determining the percentages of individuals who developed depression based on their GDS scores six years later. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine odds ratios for the association between depression onset and tub bathing.   Results: For individuals who tub bathed ≥7 times a week, the odds ratios for depression onset versus individuals who bathed 0-6 times a week in summer and winter were 0.84 (95% confidence interval, 0.64-1.10) and 0.76 (95% confidence interval, 0.59-0.98), respectively. Tub bathing ≥7 times a week in winter significantly reduced the risk of depression onset.  Conclusions: New-onset depression was shown to be infrequent in older adults who bathe in a tub frequently. Tub bathing was suggested to potentially contribute to the prevention of depression in the elderly.

A Kampo formulation boibukuryoto is originally described in the classic textbook “Kinkiyouryaku,” which indication is involuntary muscle movement (IMM) of extremities, similar to the movement of leaves of an elm tree. We experienced two cases of IMM successfully treated with boibukuryoto. This report presented the details of these two cases of IMM and the results of surface electromyogram (EMG). There has never been a report of boibukuryoto for the treatment of IMM. The results of EMG indicate that IMM may be associated with myokymia.

We experienced a patient, who complained severe fatigue in spite of adequate hormonal supplement after pituitary tumor removal, was successfully treated with Kampo therapy. The pharmacological effect of this Kampo formulation i.e. bukuryoshigyakuto is still unknown, but this formulation has been used for pre-shock conditions in the terminal stage of infectious diseases. According to the description in the classic textbook, this formulation is suggested to encourage metabolic function and maintain core temperature of the human body. The authors propose that Kampo medicine is a hopeful alternative way in the management of such patients.

Hospitalized patients often have insomnia, and in many cases it is necessary to administer hypnotics. Although the hypnotics currently used in Japan are mainly benzodiazepine receptor agonists, there is an associated risk of falling due to muscle relaxant action, and carryover effect. It is believed that orexin receptor antagonists, which have a different mechanism of action from conventional hypnotics, have no muscle relaxant action and are thus considered to be much safer. Therefore, in this study we compared fall rate according to the class of hypnotics that the patient had been taking. 　　We analyzed hospitalized patients taking orexin receptor antagonists (ORB), benzodiazepines (BZDs), and non-BZDs, who had falls and were treated in our hospital from April 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017. Patients were grouped according to the drug they were taking before the fall occurred and the fall rate was calculated and compared. The total number of falls in the target patients was 45, and the total number of people prescribed hypnotics in the study period was 1682. Fall rate by classification of hypnotics was the lowest in the ORB group at 1.45％, which was significantly lower than that of the BZD group, suggesting the possibility that ORBs have minimal influence on falls. In addition, the fall rate in the non-BZD group was significantly lower than that of the BZD group.