Objectives:Treating complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is difficult because it still does not have a recommended therapy. A 29-year-old man was diagnosed with CRPS after surgery on his 4th and 5th left toes 7 years ago. Though he had undergone diverse pain treatment, the symptoms persisted, so he visited Dunsan Korean Medicine Hospital of Daejeon University. This case report presents results on the effect of bee venom pharmacopuncture in treating patient with CRPS.Methods:Bee venom pharmacopuncture (BVP), 0.15 to 0.4 mL dosage, was administered at GB43. The treatment was applied each week for a total 14 times. The symptoms were evaluated using a numeric rating scale (NRS) and the dosage of pain medicine.Results:On the first visit, he was taking an anticonvulsant, a trycyclic antidepressant, and an analgesic. On the NRS the worst pain in the toes received a score of 8. He also complained of severe pain and hypersensitivity when the 4th and the 5th toes were touched just slightly. Other complaint included dyspepsia, rash, and depression. After treatment, on the NRS, the score for toe pain was 0, and he no longer needed to take pain medication. During the 4-months follow-up period, he has remained without pain; neither have additional symptoms appeared nor adverse events occurred.Conclusion:BVP may have potential benefits for treating patients with CRPS.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy is a rare form of cardiomyopathy that is associated with significant mortality. It can cause a cardiac arrest during cesarean section even though the patient does not have any previous symptom and sign. The most important thing of anesthesia in this patient is an optimization of hemodynamic and respiratory status. We report the successful general anesthesia using of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for cesarean section in a 34-year-old woman with fulminant peripartum cardiomyopathy.

Objectives:Correlations of the levels of the nonspecific inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and of the coagulation marker fibrinogen with the treatment period of wheel balanced cancer therapy were determined.Methods:Electronic charts of stage IV cancer patients hospitalized from February 1, 2008, to November 30, 2013, were reviewed retrospectively. Patients whose laboratory follow-up tests included at least two data points for at least one marker were included. Patients receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy or having Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) levels exceeding 2 were excluded. Correlations of the markers with the length of treatment for treatment periods ≥ 21 and ≤ 20 days were determined by gender and whether or not surgery had been performed.Results:Analyses of the CRP and the ESR revealed a higher proportion of patients with stable marker levels than with increased or decreased levels. Also, only the ESR in female and the CRP in male groups had higher proportions of patients with stable marker levels than with increased or decreased levels. The ≥ 21 day group had a higher proportion of patients with stable CRP and ESR levels than the ≤ 20 day group. Only the ESR in female and the CRP in male groups had higher proportions of patients with stable marker levels in the ≥ 21 day than in the ≤ 20 day group. In addition, only the CRP in the surgery group and the ESR in the non-surgery group had higher proportions of patients with stable marker levels in the ≥ 21 day group than in the ≤ 20 day group.Conclusion:For stage IV cancer patients at hospitals that offer Korean medicine, more than 21 days of long-term wheel balanced cancer therapy (WBCT) should help maintain the CRP and the ESR levels and should have a favorable effect on the survival rate.