Todo Yoshimasu was one of the Kampo doctors of the Koho school in the Edo period, and created the basic structure of the modern traditional Japanese Kampo medicine. His achievements are still recognized today. His oldest son, Nangai Yoshimasu, is also credited with inheriting and developing the medical techniques established by his father. Todo’s descendants continued to be involved in the medical profession. In this paper, we first report that the building of the Yoshimasu clinic still exists in Tsuwara, Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture, where Shiho Yoshimasu, the fifth-generation descendant of Todo, and his son Ryozo practiced medicine. We also found the tombstones there for Tetsutaro (Shiho), Yutaro, Ryozo, Tamenori, and Teruo of the Yoshimasu family. In conclusion, one of the origins of the Yoshimasu’s, a well-known family of doctors in Japan, is in Tottori. Therefore, Tsuwara, Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture is an important place to describe Todo Yoshimasu. Here, we revealed the Yoshimasu family in Tottori based on new materials.

Pain of yin pattern is difficult to treat with Western medicine. We report four cases of shoulder periarthritis of yin pattern, as defined in Kampo, successfully treated with Kampo medicine. All three of these patients were women, aged 59, 74, and 62, respectively, at the end of the treatment series. All of them were diagnosed with shoulder periarthritis of yin pattern through interviews and were administered a combination of kakkonto and sokeikakketsuto after dokkatsukakkonto based on the classic description; their pain was then relieved. According to the classical interpretation, jufu is a clinical state of pain in the four extremities of people with yin pattern, for which dokkatsukakkonto is effective. We discussed the prescription directions for dokkatsukakkonto.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common orthopedic disease. Western medicine treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome include conservative drug treatments, temporary external fixations, and operative treatments. Cases of patients being treated with Kampo medicine have been reported. The patient was an 80-year-old woman, who visited our clinic because of numbness in her right hand. She was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome. She was administrated with a Kampo medicine, keishito. After 7 days, her symptoms were relieved, and after 14 days her symptoms had resolved. We could not find any reports showing that keishito was effective in treating carpal tunnel syndrome. We believe that her symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome were caused by eiefuwa (nutrient-defense disharmony) and were successfully treated with keishito.

We report a case of qi-deficiency fever that was successfully treated with hochuekkito. A 26-year-old woman presented to our clinic with a complaint of pain of her fingers. Clinical findings revealed no evidence of rheumatoid arthritis. Since she wanted treatment for the recent mild fever, additional examination was performed. Infection, malignant tumor, and collagen disease were ruled out as probable cause of the fever. Clinically, she was diagnosed with qi-deficiency fever. After treatment with hochuekkito, her body temperature normalized, indicating that treatment with hochuekkito was effective. Hochuekkito was originally prescribed for treatment of qi deficiency due to yin fire ; however, it is currently used for treatment of other diseases. In this report, we described a case using hochuekkito.

Objectives: This study surveyed Japanese anesthesiologists’ knowledge of the cost of medicine and their attitudes toward cost containment to determine how these factors may affect their choice of medication and provide insight into reducing healthcare expenditures.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, Japanese anesthesiologists’ knowledge of medicine prices and their attitudes toward cost containment were surveyed to identify barriers in lowering the cost of anesthesia. The proportion of participants who correctly guessed the cost of the five most frequently used types of drugs within 25% of the actual price was determined, and their attitudes regarding drug prices and barriers to achieving cost containment were analyzed.Results: In total, responses to 60 questionnaires were analyzed. The proportion of participants correctly guessing the price within 25% of the actual price for each of the five drug categories, including neuromuscular blocking agents, inhaled anesthetics, intravenous anesthetics, opioids, and neuromuscular blockade reversal agents, was 30% (n=18), 18.3% (n=11), 6.67% (n=4), 30.0% (n=18), and 63.3% (n=38), respectively. Participants believed they had adequate access to information on prices, that the cost of a product influenced their decisions regarding product use, and that more information about cost might change their use of the drugs but did not believe that they had adequate knowledge about product prices.Conclusion: The proportion of participants with acceptable price estimates is small. Educating anesthesiologists about the cost of anesthetic agents may be required to encourage cost-containing behaviors. This study is the first survey to assess Japanese anesthologists’ knowledge of the cost of medicines.

Eruption as a dermatological disease is often localized, which is not fully explained by Western medicine. However, localization of eruption is interpreted in Kampo medicine according to meridian and collateral theo­ries, and here, we report two cases of successful treatment with Kampo medicine. Case 1 was of a 32-year-old woman who visited our clinic because of localized eruption around her mouth and was diagnosed with acne vulgaris. She was administered rikkunshito effectively. Case 2 was of a 37-year-old man who visited our clinic because of localized eruption in the anterior portion of the neck and was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis. He was administered shin'iseihaito effectively. Rikkunshito and shin'iseihaito are generally not adapted for dermatological diseases but were effective. After treatment we considered meridian and collateral theories. These two cases are depended on stomach meridian of foot-yangming and large intestine meridians of hand­-yangming, rikkunshito and shin'iseihaito were consisted of herbs concerning with spleen and lung meridians. Two cases were successfully treated through spleen meridian of greater yin and hand great yin lung meridian, which make exterior and interior with stomach meridian of foot-yangming and large intestine meridians of hand-yangming. Kampo medicine was effective for treating these diseases based on meridian and collateral theories.

Tokishakuyakusan is well-known to be useful in infertility. We report 3 cases of infertility that resulted in pregnancy and childbirth due to oral administration of tokishakuyakusan after being led to tokishakuyakusan pattern by symptomatic treatment resolving blood stasis or regulating qi. Case 1 was a 39-year-old woman with unexplained infertility. She visited our hospital because of irritability and was initially administered keishibukuryogankayokuinin and yokukansankachinpihange, and then tokishakuyakusan. After a month of treatment, she conceived. Case 2 was a 33-year-old woman who was diagnosed with ovarian dysfunction and received ovarian stimulation. To support infertility therapy she was administered keishibukuryogan, and subsequently, tokishakuyakusan based on her pattern. After 3 months of treatment, she conceived. Case 3 was a 37-year-old woman who was diagnosed with unexplained infertility and was administered kamishoyosan and hochuekkito for premenstrual syndrome at another hospital. She visited our hospital because of sensitivity to cold and fatigability. The previous treatment was discontinued, and she was administered tokishakuyakusan based on her pattern. After 2 months of treatment, she conceived. All 3 patients continued tokishakuyakusan treatment during pregnancy and successfully delivered live babies. These 3 cases initially received other Kampo medicines and then, tokishakuyakusan, according to the changed Kampo medical pattern. It is important to administer tokishakuyakusan to patients with infertility, following administration of appropriate Kampo medicine to correct their imbalance of qi, blood and fluid and after further confirming the abdominal signs suitable for tokishakuyakusan.

A 74-year-old woman presented to our clinic with a history of vascular-and stent-graft insertion for aortic dissection developed a tendency to bleed from a palmar wound due to chronic disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Initially, she sustained the palmar wound due to a fall. On the second day after the injury, she experienced continuous bleeding and consulted the orthopedic department of a general hospital, where her dressing was changed. On the third day after injury, she sought consultation at our clinic. The clot and wound remained intact even 12 days after the injury. Therefore, the clot was removed and the bleeding was stopped surgically. On the same day, 5 hours after the surgical treatment, the patient presented to our clinic because of continuous bleeding. She was then administered kyukikyogaito and kamikihito to stop the bleeding. Her laboratory findings revealed thrombocytopenia, and additional inspection was performed. The bleeding stopped on the next day. On the third day after administration, the bleeding remained controlled and an additional inspection revealed DIC. In the cardiology hospital, the cause of tendency to bleed of chronic DIC was pointed out as being due to a leakage at the end of the stent-graft. Kampo medicine was thought to be useful for temporal hemostasis for bleeding due to chronic DIC.

We herein report a case of 91-year-old woman with antiresorptive agent-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (ARONJ) developed during treatment for osteoporosis with intravenous ibandronate. Although she was treated with several antibiotics and had an incision for the drainage of a pus discharge at a dental clinic for two months after the onset of ARONJ, the discharge persisted. We then added hochuekkito to her treatment, which resulted in a gradual decreased in pus discharge and decrease in wound size and the wound resolved after approximately one month. ARONJ is considered a refractory disease, however, it was successfully treated with hochuekkito in this patient. ARONJ is also a rare condition and to our knowledge, this is considered to be the first case of ARONJ, which has been successfully treated with Kampo medicine.