Clinical Investigation of the Efficacy of Ryutan-shakan-to in the Treatment of Postoperative Pain and Discomfort Following Transurethral Resection of the Prostate

• Published in: Kampo Medicine Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 183 - 189
• Main Authors: FURUYA, Seiji, TAKAHASHI, Kennosuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japan Society for Oriental Medicine 2003
• Subjects: postoperative pain; Ryutan-shakan-to; transurethral resection of the prostate
• ISSN: 0287-4857; 1882-756X
• DOI: 10.3937/kampomed.54.183

We studied patients following transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) in order to assess the efficacy of Ryutan-shakan-to in the treatment of post-TURPpain and discomfort (PTPD). The study utilized the Japanese-language edition (draft) of the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI). Our subjects were 15 patients of age 57 to 77 (mean age 69.8 years) who had undergone TURP 0.8 to 10 years (mean 3.4 years) previously. The patients filled out the Japanese version (draft) of NIH-CPSI before starting treatment with Ryutan-shakan-to (7.5g/day) and every 2 weeks after the start of treatment. The duration of treatment with Ryutan-shakan-to was 2 to 16 weeks (mean 6.4 weeks). Results showed that Ryutan-shakan-to was effective in treating PTPD in 11 cases (73%) and ineffective in 4 cases (27%). Scores (mean±standard deviation) for pain severity, pain frequency, and quality of life (QOL) were significantly better at the end of treatment than at baseline, with values decreasing from 5.8±1.5 to 2.6±1.9 for severity of pain (p=0.0014), from 3.4±0.9 to 2.0±1.5 for frequency of pain (p=0.0096), and from 4.5±0.7 to 2.6±1.4 for QOL (p=0.0033), respectively. These results indicate that Ryutan-shakan-to offers a useful treatment option for patients with PTPD.