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Traditional Japanese medicine, Kampo: Its history and current status

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Abstract

Traditional Japanese medicine, Kampo, is used by over 80% of medical doctors in Japan. Owing to its high quality and safety, Kampo has been integrated into modern medicine, and there are 345 randomized controlled trials using Kampo in Japan as of 2010. Although there are a number of articles in top journals about basic science research, we can find only small numbers of high-quality clinical evidence. Since undergraduate education on Kampo has been established, integrative approach with the balanced combination of modern medicine and Kampo is expected to generate good clinical evidence in the near future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Japan Society for Oriental Medicine, Tokyo, 105-0022, Japan

    Yoshiharu Motoo, Takashi Seki & Kiichiro Tsutani

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Kanazawa Medical University, Uchinada, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan

    Yoshiharu Motoo

  3. Department of Traditional Asian Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan

    Takashi Seki

  4. Department of Drug Policy and Management, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Kiichiro Tsutani

Authors
  1. Yoshiharu Motoo
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  2. Takashi Seki
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  3. Kiichiro Tsutani
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Correspondence to Yoshiharu Motoo.

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Motoo, Y., Seki, T. & Tsutani, K. Traditional Japanese medicine, Kampo: Its history and current status. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 17, 85–87 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-011-0653-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-011-0653-y

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