The authors would like to report the successful treatment with Hochuekki-to and Keishibukuryo-gan of a case of chronic renal failure that had deteriorated rapidly in a short period of time.
The patient was a 29-year-old woman that had been diagnosed as having IgA renal syndrome in 1987 after a local physician had detected proteinuria and requested a renal biopsy. In November of the same year she came to the authors' clinic requesting Kampo therapy. After her kidney function was stabilized with such formulas as Gorei-san and Byakokaninjin-to, the patient stopped coming to the clinic. In February of 1992, she returned to the clinic with renal failure following an episode of acute pneumonia. She was admitted to the hospital due to hypertension (Cr 2.8mg/dl; BUN 20mg/dl). Dietary therapy and hypertension control were carried out, and administration of 40mg/day of prednisone (PSL) was commenced on the 10th day following admittance. Since the proteinuria remained unchanged, 1g/day of methyl-PSL was given for three days from the 18th day after admittance. However, by the 38th day (4 weeks after commencement of PSL administration) the Cr was 5.0mg/dl. At this point the Kampo formula was changed from Sairei-to to Hochuekki-to in conjunction with Keishibukuryo-gan-ka-kokadaio. Her kidney function began to improve, and by the 108th day the laboratory findings had decreased to Cr 2.7mg/dl and Bun 26mg/dl and the PSL dosage was reduced to 20mg/day. She was discharged from the hospital on the 110th day, and has been progressing well as an out-patient.

A patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), complicated by severe thrombocytopenia was successfully treated with Juzen-taiho-to. The patient was a 38-year-old woman presenting thrombocytopenia in 1974. She was diagnosed as having SLE with the appearance of renal failure in 1975. In 1984, she began blood dialysis due to deterioration of renal function. In addition, she repeatedly suffered from severe bleeding episodes due to thrombocytopenia. In 1989, she visited our clinic to undergo Kampo therapy, with no significant results obtained with any of the formulas tried.
In September 1992, she suffered from duodenal ulcer bleeding and stopped Kampo therapy for some time. However, since she began taking Juzen-taiho-to in June 1993, her thrombocytopenia improved and her platelet count stabilized at 10-15×10⁴/mm³. This made it possible to taper the dosage of the steroids being administered. Since July 1994, the prednisolone (PSL) dosage has been 5mg on alternate days. Since July 1995, the anti-DNA antibody was negative. The platelet count has been maintained at 15-20×10⁴/mm³ (as of December, 1996).

Choyo-to, which has long been used for acute and chronic intestinal disease, dermatological disorders and pulmonary abscess, is attributed to the writings of 7th Century physician Sun Simiao, known as the “Qian-jinyao-fang”. We have also successfully treated nine different patients suffering from various diseases, using Choyo-to. In most of these cases, patients complained of constipation. Thus far, our modern experience suggests that Choyo-to may be indicated for not only right-side pain upon naval palpitation, pressure sensation at the ileocecum and excessive strain of abdominal muscles, but also for cases of dry skin, edematous skin and tendency of normal tongue color.

We investigated tte effects of Bukuryoshigyaku-to on cxperimental hemorrhagic shock. Twelve mongrel dogs, which were anesthetized with 26mg/kg of pentobarbital were used, Bukuryoshigyaku-to was given to six dogs and saline solution alone was given to six dogs as a control. Under artificial respiration management, a hemorrhagic shock model was created by modified Wiggers method. The drug was administered by enema immediately after the compensatory phase. Bukuryoshigyaku-to, consistied of 4g Bukuryo (Hoelen), 2g of Kanzo (Glycyrrhizae Radix), 2g Kankyo (Zingiberis Siccatum Rhizoma), 2g of Ninjin (Ginseng Radix) and 2g of Bushi (Aconiti Tuber), which were extracted by boiling for approximately 30 minutes.
The results showed no statistical differences in the changes in the mean arterial pressure and central venous pressure between the two groups. However, the cardiac index was significantly higher in the observation phase in the Bukuryoshigyaku-to group than in the control group. A drop in body pressure was prevented in the traditional Bukuryoshigyaku-to group.
These findings suggest the effectiveness of Bukuryoshigyaku-to in the treatment of hemorrhagic shock.

We investigated the effects of Kampo treatment on the development and progression of diabetic microangiopathy in 141 patients (95 male and 46 female patients, mean±S.D., 61.3±10.1 years) with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. To this purpose, we examined the severity of diabetic microangiopathy with respect to the duration of suffering from diabetes mellitus as well as the duration of the condition after the commencement of Kampo treatment. We obtained the following results. 1) The significantly lighter the severity of diabetic nephropathy was, the longer its duration under Kampo treatment was. 2) In the group of shorter duration of suffering from diabetes mellitus, although there was no statistical significance, the longer the duration under Kampo treatment was, the lighter the severity of diabetic neuropathy and retinopathy was. But, there was no significant difference in the longer duration of suffering. It was suggested that the combination therapy with Kampo treatment was effective for diabetic microangiopathy.