Complementary and alternative medicine use by Japanese children with pediatric surgical diseases

Background: This study aimed to survey the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies in Japanese children with major pediatric surgical diseases. Methods: This survey was mailed to each family of 355 patients. Results: One hundred fifty-three (43%) of 355 mailed questionnaires were completely returned. Forty-one (27%) of 153 parents responded that they used CAM for their child. There was no significant difference in CAM use according to sex, mean age, follow-up duration, family CAM users, and associated disorders between CAM users and non-users. Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were significantly more likely to use CAM than children without IBD (65% vs 21%, p = 0.0001). Only 20% of parents informed the attending physicians about CAM before its use. Conclusions: It is important for physicians caring for children with pediatric surgical disease, especially IBD, to be familiar with common forms of CAM.

Safety and efficacy of Dai-kenchu-to in postoperative infants with gastroschisis

Purpose: Intestinal dysfunction is a major problem after gastroschisis repair, and causes poor oral intake and poor body weight gain in infants with gastroschisis. Dai-kenchu-to (DKT) is often used in the treatment of gastrointestinal dysfunction in Japan. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of DKT on infants with uncomplicated gastroschisis. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study from 1991 to 2009, we assessed 16 infants with uncomplicated gastroschisis. Eight infants received 0.3 g/kg/day of DKT for 12 months (group 1) and 8 infants did not receive DKT (group 2). We analyzed their body weight as an indicator of the effect of DKT. Results: There were no significant differences in the background characteristics. The body weight of group 1 was significantly increased at the ages of 9 months (p = 0.0348) and 12 months (p = 0.0097), compared with group 2. Multivariate analyses revealed that only DKT administration had a significant impact on body weight gain at the ages of 9 months (p = 0.0201) and 12 months (p = 0.0111). No side effects related to DKT were reported. Conclusion: DKT administration might work safely and effectively for improving the body weight gain in infants with uncomplicated gastroschisis.

Bacteriostatic Effects of Hyaluronan-Based Bioresorbable Membrane

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the presence of bacteriostatic effects of hyaluronan-based bioresorbable membrane (HA/CMC) on selected major bacterial strains in digestive organs. Methods: We firstly evaluated the growth inhibition effect of HA/CMC for E. coli and S. aureus by determining the optical density (OD)650 in the incubation medium. At second, to determine the viable counts of bacteria, total adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were measured with five groups;several concentrations of HA/CMC and control. Results: OD curve gradually elevated and reached to plateau at 4 hours in E. coli. and 6 hours in S. aureus. After reaching plateau, the growth inhibition of both strains was statistically significantly correlated to the concentrations of HA/CMC. The ATP productions had statistically significant differences at 6 hours after incubation and inhibited in dose-dependence of a well-dissolved HA/CMC. Conclusion: HA/CMC may have dose-dependently bacteriostatic effects on S. aureus and E. coli.