Although saikanto has often been an effective Kampo medicine for chest pain accompanied by coughing or deep breathing, there are few reports on its usefulness in recent years. Here we report 3 cases of outpatients who visited the respiratory department of our hospital with the symptom of chest pain accompanied by coughing or deep breathing. They were successfully treated with saikanto. Case 1 was a 17-year-old woman who was diagnosed with pleuritis. Case 2 was a 57-year-old man who was suspiciously diagnosed with pleuritis. Case 3 was a 45-year-old woman who was diagnosed with upper respiratory tract inflammation. In Kampo medical examination before the treatment with saikanto, 3 patients had kyokyokuman (fullness and discomfort in chest and hypochondrium) and 2 patients had shinkahiko (epigastric stuffiness and resistance). All of the patients recovered from the chest pain early without analgesic drugs. This suggests that Kampo medicine of saikanto is effective for the early recovery without using analgesic drugs from chest pain caused by pleuritis or a severe cough, and that kyokyokuman and shinkahiko are useful indications for its effectiveness.

A 20-year-old woman had a tendency of belching from a young age. She began to realize that she might have excessive belching compared to other people for the past two years. She was prescribed some medicines to improve gastrointestinal function by some physicians, but her symptoms did not resolve. Aerophagia was suspected as forceful belching tends to occur soon after eating or drinking. Incidentally, ihon is a condition in which one vomits food half a day after the ingestion due to the malfunction of the digestive system. I considered her symptoms as ihon and prescribed bukuryotakushato, and her symptoms improved. This case report indicated that ihon could be defined as a symptom of forceful regurgitation of food or air, regardless of the timing after meals.