흉곽출구 증후군의 한의학적 치료에 대한 국내외 연구동향 분석

A Review on the Korean Medicine Treatment for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Objectives: The objective of this study was to review the trends of Korean medicine-based treatment for thoracic outlet syndrome(TOS). Methods: Korean and foreign on-line databases(Pubmed, Cochran Library, CNKI, NDSL KISS and OASIS) were researched for articles discussing Korean medicine-based treatment for TOS. Repeated articles, review articles, commentaries, and those not relevant to the topic of study were excluded. Results: The total number of studies selected was 26, which included 18 case reports and 8 randomized controlled trials(RCT). In these studies, acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, acupotomy, and warm acupuncture were used as interventions for TOS.Chuna therapy was found to be the most commonly used combination treatment. Despite the high prevalence of TOS, only 3 case reports of the 26 studies selected in this review were published in Korean academic journals. Conclusions: In this study, we analyzed the trends of traditional Korean medicine-based treatment for TOS. The results showed that Korean medicine-based treatment could be an effective method for treating TOS.