Effects of the Kampo medicine Yokukansan for perioperative anxiety and postoperative pain in women undergoing breast surgery: A randomized, controlled trial.

Yokukansan (YKS) is a traditional Japanese herbal (Kampo) medicine prescribed for anxiety. In this randomized controlled trial, we compared the subjective assessment of anxiety using questionnaires and its objective assessment using salivary alpha-amylase concentrations in YKS and control (CNT) groups of women undergoing breast surgery. The trial was registered at the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (registration number: UMIN000028998), and the investigators were blinded to drug administration. One hundred patients who underwent breast cancer surgery were allocated to either the YKS or the CNT group. Finally, 35 and 42 patients in the YKS and CNT groups were analyzed, respectively. The YKS group received two 2.5 g doses of the medication before sleeping on the night before surgery and 2 h before inducing anesthesia, while the CNT group did not receive medication preoperatively. Patients answered two questionnaires, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, pre-and postoperatively as subjective anxiety assessments. As an objective anxiety indicator, salivary alpha-amylase levels were measured the day before, directly before, and the day after surgery (T3). In the YKS group, salivary alpha-amylase scores directly before operation were significantly lower than those on the day before surgery and at one day postoperatively (F [2,150] = 3.76, p = 0.03). Moreover, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait scores were significantly more improved postoperatively in the YKS group than in the CNT group (difference in Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety: YKS, mean -2.77, 95% confidence interval [-1.48 --4.06], p <0.001, and CNT, -1.43 [-0.25--2.61], p = 0.011; and difference in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: YKS group, -4.23 [-6.95--1.51], p = 0.0004; and CNT group, 0.12 [-2.36-2.60], p = 0.92). No side effects were associated with YKS. YKS may reduce perioperative anxiety in patients undergoing surface surgery.

Neural block therapy for radiation enteritis: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Radiation enteritis following radiotherapy targeting the abdomen occasionally causes ulcers or ileus, which can be difficult to treat and usually progressive and refractory, significantly degrading the patient's quality of life. CASE PRESENTATION: A 58-year-old woman had undergone surgery for cervical cancer approximately 21 years ago. During treatment, she had also received radiotherapy targeting the pelvis and stomach. She presented with complaints of vomiting and lower abdominal pain and was subsequently diagnosed with multiple gastric ulcers, enterocolitis, and paralytic ileus due to late radiation-induced sequelae. We reasoned that visceral sympathetic block would improve the abdominal symptoms; therefore, we performed a splanchnic nerve block and an inferior mesenteric artery plexus block. As predicted, these block procedures improved the symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Radiation enteritis is an iatrogenic disease, and there is no established treatment for intractable cases. However, visceral sympathetic nerve block may show efficacy as a potential therapy for radiation enteritis-associated abdominal pain and ileus.