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The effectiveness of the Japanese Kampo medicine, kamikihito, for the cognitive impairment of dementia
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of the Japanese Kampo medicine, kamikihito (KKT), for improving the cognitive impairment of dementia. Methods: We studied 14 patients with dementia who presented with forgetfulness as their chief complaint. Seven of the patients had mild dementia of approximately 20 points on the Hasegawa dementia scale-revised (HDS-R) and the remaining 7 patients had moderate to relatively severe dementia of approximately 10 points. KKT extract was administered orally t.i.d. before meals. The HDS-R scores at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after administration of KKT were compared to those before administration using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The HDS-R scores in the mild dementia group before administration and 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks after administration were 19.6 ± 2.2, 21.8 ± 2.0, 23.2 ± 3.4, 24.3 ± 3.3, and 25.0 ± 3.9, respectively, demonstrating significant improvement at 4, 8, and 12 weeks after administration (p < 0.05, each). The moderate to severe dementia group showed no significant improvement at any point, with scores of 8.6 ± 3.0, 8.5 ± 3.2, 8.8 ± 3.7, 11.4 ± 3.9, and 9.8 ± 5.9. Conclusion: KKT may be effective in the improvement of cognitive impairment for people with mild dementia. © 2015 Japan Health Sciences University & Japan International Cultural Exchange Foundation.
... On the other hand, Kami-kihi-to (KKT; the Japanese name for Jia-Wei-Gui-Pi-Tang), a Japanese-Chinese traditional herbal medicine, has been used to treat neurosis, insomnia, amnesia, anemia, and some diseases. KKT has recently been reported to improve cognitive impairment of dementia (Arai et al., 2015), ameliorate memory impairment in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease (Watari et al., 2014;Tohda and Watari, 2015), and induce anxiolytic effects in rats and mice (Yamada et al., 1994;Nishizawa and Yamashita, 1997). Other herbal medicines have reportedly shown beneficial clinical effects for improving cognitive impairment in patients with destructive and aggressive behaviors with vascular dementia and brain injury (Kan'o et al., 2014;Okamoto et al., 2014;Zeng et al., 2015). ...
... Acupuncture has been reported to be beneficial for psychiatric and cognitive disease and to induce various neurobiological responses, including modulation of serotonergic, noradrenergic, and dopaminergic systems; effects on GABA and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; and inflammatory responses (Pilkington, 2013). KKT has also been suggested to activate the cholinergic nerve (Egashira et al., 1991) and has been reported to improve cognitive and memory dysfunction and to reverse degeneration of cortical axons and presynaptic terminals (Tohda et al., 2011;Watari et al., 2014;Arai et al., 2015). Ginseng and Astragalus root, contained in KKT, NYT, JTT, and HET, and Polygala root, contained in KKT and NYT, have been suggested to have antineurodegenerative effects (Tohda et al., 2004;Naito and Tohda 2006;Tohda et al., 2006). ...
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of combination therapy consisting of acupuncture and traditional herbal medicine (Kampo medicine) for reducing the incidence rate of delirium in patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease in ICUs.
Twenty-nine patients who had been urgently admitted to the ICU in the control period were treated with conventional intensive care. Thirty patients in the treatment period received conventional therapy plus a combination therapy consisting of acupuncture and herbal medicine.
Acupuncture treatment was performed once a day, and the herbal formula was administered orally three times a day during the first week of the ICU stay. The standard acupuncture points were GV20, Ex-HN3, HT7, LI4, Liv3, and KI3, and the main herbal preparation was Kamikihito.
The incident rates of delirium, assessed using the confusion assessment method for ICU, in the treatment and control period were compared.
The incidence rate of delirium was significantly lower in the treatment group than in the control group (6.6% vs. 37.9%, P<0.01). Moreover, sedative drugs and non-pharmacological approaches against aggressive behavior of patients who were delirious were used less in the treatment group than in the control group. No serious adverse events were observed in the treatment group.
Combination therapy consisting of acupuncture and herbal medicine was found to be effective in lowering the incidence of delirium in patients with CV disease in ICUs. Further studies with a large sample size and parallel randomized controlled design would be required to establish the effects of this therapy.
Patulous eustachian tube (PET) is not an uncommon disease. Drugs are seldom used for PET treatment. The purpose of this study was not to evaluate the usefulness of the Chinese medicine 'Kami-Kihi-To' for PET, but to call attention to the possibility of drug therapy for PET. The diagnosis of PET is made from its symptoms and abnormal tympanic membrane movement during hyperventilation detected with impedance audiometry. 'Kami-Kihi-To' was administered to 88 patients, 66 of whom questioned subjective symptoms, and 24 of whom were evaluated objectively by impedance audiometry. Complete relief was achieved in 36 patients (54.5%) treated with 'Kami-Kihi-To', and 14 patients (21.2%) obtained partial relief. There was objective evidence of complete improvement of tympanic membrane movement in eight patients (33.3%), and partial improvement in nine patients (37.5%). Side effects were noted in three patients (4.5%). These results suggest that drug therapy for PET is possible.