The Effect of Hange-shashin-to and Rikkunshi-to Against the Digestive Symptoms after Gastrectomy

Akira Gochi, Shuhei Hirose, Katsuaki Sato, Satoshi Hiramatsu, Akira Asakura, Hirofumi Tokuoka, Takeshi Matsuno, Yasuaki Kamikawa, Kunzo Orita

The First Department of Surgery, Okayama University, Medical School
A Study Meeting of Okayama Postoperative Disorders

Hange-shashin-to or Rikkunshi-to was administered for four weeks to patients who had digestive symptoms following gastrectomy, to evaluate the cumulative rates of disappearance of subjective symptoms and the duration required for symptoms to disappear. In the evaluation of the rate of disappearance of loss of appetite, the group of patients who received Hange-shashin-to showed improvement early in the test. At the end of the test, the two groups of patients had similar rates of improvement. The rates of disappearance of heavy feeling in the stomach were approximately the same for both groups. There was no difference in the rate of disappearance of heartburn between the two groups. In the evaluation of the rate of disappearance of nausea and vomiting, the group given HangeShashin-to showed early improvement, while the group given Rikkunshi-to had a higher rate of final improvement than the former. In evaluation of the time it took for subjective symptoms to disappear, the group that received Hangeshashin- to showed early disappearance of symptoms of nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, heavy feeling in the stomach, abdominal distension, epigastric pain and borborygmus, while the group that received Rikkunshi-to also demonstrated early disappearance of symptoms of nausea, vomiting and epigastric pain, but the former group showed better results than the latter. In overall evaluation, Hange-shashin-to was found to be highly effective in patients who were of average build, of medium body surface area and underwent subtotal gastrectomy for gastric cancer, and Rikkunshi-to was highly effective in patients who were slim, of small body surface area, and underwent total gastrectomy for gastric cancer. The result verified how to original use of each drug.

Key words
postgastrectomy syndrome, Hange-shashin-to, Rikkunshi-to

Reprint requests
Akira Gochi The First Department of Surgery, Okayama University of Medical School
2-5-1 Shikatacho, Okayama, 700 JAPAN

Accepted
December 7, 1994

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