Cho Nahyun, Choi Younkuk, Kim Heekyung, Moon Heeyoung, Chae Younbyoung, Kim Sungha, Leem Jungtae
Department of Diagnostics, College of Korean Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan-si, Jeonbuk-do, Republic of Korea.
East-West Cancer Center, Cheonan Korean Medical Hospital, Daejeon University, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2025 Jul 23;12:1545687. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1545687. eCollection 2025.
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common gastrointestinal disorder affecting 10-20% of the global population. This case series aimed to report the clinical outcomes of three patients with FD who were treated with eight constitution acupuncture (ECA) and eight constitution diet (ECD), a personalized treatment approach based on the eight constitution medicine (ECM) theory.
Three patients with chronic FD were retrospectively selected from two Korean medical clinics. Each patient underwent ECA and ECD according to their constitution type as determined by pulse diagnosis. FD symptoms and quality of life were assessed using the Nepean Dyspepsia Index-Korean version (NDI-K) and Functional Dyspepsia-Quality of Life (FD-QoL) scores before and 2 and 4 weeks post-treatment. Adherence to treatment and adverse events were also evaluated.
All three patients showed significant improvements in NDI-K and FD-QoL scores after 4 weeks of treatment. No adverse events were observed during the treatment period. In particular, one patient experienced temporary symptom relapse due to poor dietary adherence, suggesting that the effectiveness of ECD may be associated with adherence to the prescribed diet.
ECA combined with ECD led to significant symptom improvement and improved the quality of life in patients with chronic FD. These findings support the potential use of ECM-based interventions as effective and personalized treatment approaches for FD. More studies with larger sample sizes and standardized tools to assess diet adherence are required to validate these results and explore long-term outcomes.
功能性消化不良（FD）是一种常见的胃肠道疾病，影响全球10%-20%的人口。本病例系列旨在报告3例接受八纲体质针灸（ECA）和八纲体质饮食（ECD）治疗的FD患者的临床结果，这是一种基于八纲医学（ECM）理论的个性化治疗方法。
从两家韩医诊所回顾性选取3例慢性FD患者。根据脉诊确定的体质类型，每位患者接受ECA和ECD治疗。在治疗前、治疗后2周和4周，使用韩国版内皮恩消化不良指数（NDI-K）和功能性消化不良生活质量（FD-QoL）评分评估FD症状和生活质量。还评估了治疗依从性和不良事件。
所有3例患者在治疗4周后NDI-K和FD-QoL评分均有显著改善。治疗期间未观察到不良事件。特别是，1例患者因饮食依从性差出现症状暂时复发，提示ECD的有效性可能与遵守规定饮食有关。
ECA联合ECD可显著改善慢性FD患者的症状并提高生活质量。这些发现支持将基于ECM的干预措施作为FD的有效且个性化治疗方法的潜在应用。需要更多样本量更大且使用标准化工具评估饮食依从性的研究来验证这些结果并探索长期结局。
