Journal of Pharmacopuncture (Jun 2022)

A Severe Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Patient Treated with Integrative Korean Medicine Including Acupuncture, Bee Venom Pharmacopuncture and Herbal Medicine: a case report

  • Da-young An,
  • Chae-eun Kim,
  • Suzy Han,
  • Mi-kyung Kim,
  • Jun-Sang Yu,
  • Seung-ho Sun

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3831/KPI.2022.25.2.138
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 2
pp. 138 – 144

Abstract

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Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is common in elderly people and severe CSM patients are recommended to receive surgery. However, in some cases, surgery may fail to improve the patients’ symptoms. An 80-year-old man diagnosed with CSM complained of right hemiplegia and right arm and leg pain with the presence of a Foley catheter, despite treatment with laminectomy and laminoplasty. Acupuncture, bee venom pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine were administered for 129 days. As a result, manual muscle testing (MMT) and the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) improved, the pain in his right arm and leg decreased, and he was able to urinate by himself. This case report implies that integrative Korean medicine (IKM) can be an option for patients suffering from muscular weakness resulting from myelopathy.

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