Background: Although many menopausal Asian women use herbal remedies for joint pain, there are no studies evaluating the efficacy of Korean red ginseng on osteoarthritis symptoms in postmenopausal women. The purpose of this study is to analyze antioxidant enzyme activity, oxidative stress markers, and pain scores before and after red ginseng consumption, to assess its effect in postmenopausal women. Methods. This prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial enrolled 52 postmenopausal women who presented with hand edema and/or pain and were diagnosed as degenerative arthritis of the hand. Patients were randomly assigned to the red ginseng (RG) group (supplemented with 3 g/d of RG for 12 weeks) or the placebo group. Changes in pain and Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) scores, antioxidant enzyme, oxidative stress markers, serum estradiol levels, and endometrial thickness were analyzed. Results. The pain score and DASH score were significantly improved in the RG group (both p < 0.05). The improvement of pain score at rest, during work or sport, and DASH score was significant compared to that of the placebo group. The superoxide dismutase level increased (p < 0.05) and the malondialdehyde level decreased (p < 0.05) significantly in the RG group, while none of the antioxidative factors showed a significant change in the placebo group. Serum estradiol levels and endometrial thickness were not affected by RG supplementation. Conclusion. RG may be an effective dietary supplement for postmenopausal women with degenerative osteoarthritis of the hand. It may relieve pain and improve antioxidative activity without the risk of endometrial thickening.

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To evaluate the additive effects of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to interval debulking surgery (IDS) in patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer. From January 2015 to February 2019, 123 patients with stages IIIC-IV ovarian cancer were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by IDS with optimal cytoreduction. Forty-three patients received IDS with HIPEC and 80 patients had IDS without HIPEC. The median follow-up period was 34.4 months. No differences in baseline characteristics in patients were found between the two groups. The IDS with HIPEC group had fewer median cycles of chemotherapy (P = 0.002) than the IDS group. The IDS with HIPEC group had a higher rate of high surgical complexity score (P = 0.032) and higher rate of complete resection (P = 0.041) compared to the IDS group. The times to start adjuvant chemotherapy were longer in the IDS with HIPEC group compared to the IDS group (P < 0.001). Postoperative grade 3 or 4 complications were similar in the two groups (P = 0.237). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that HIPEC with the IDS group had better progression-free survival (PFS) (P = 0.010), while there was no difference in overall survival between the two groups (P = 0.142). In the multivariate analysis, HIPEC was significantly associated with better PFS (HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.39 - 0.93). The addition of HIPEC to IDS resulted in longer PFS than IDS without HIPEC not affecting the safety profile. Further research is needed to evaluate the true place of HIPEC in the era of targeted treatments.