Clipping Board » Medical Affairs and Administration ─ Medical system, pharmaceuticals, and medical community-related reports
The Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2014
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
At the Cleveland Clinic, traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Galina Roofener consults with patient John McGeehan, who suffers from chronic nausea.
Christina Lunka recently visited the newly opened traditional Chinese medicine department at the Cleveland Clinic, looking both nervous and excited.
Lunka, a 49-year-old resident of Kirtland, Ohio, has seen many doctors for joint pain and digestive issues. Now, she hopes traditional Chinese medicine can alleviate her ailments.
“Are there any anti-inflammatory medications?” Lunka asked Galina Roofener, the TCM practitioner, during an hour-long consultation.
“Of course,” Roofener replied. “This medicine can reduce inflammation and pain, and also aid digestion.” She handed Lunka a bottle of Xiao Yao San, capsules containing eight herbal ingredients, including licorice, peppermint leaves, and white peony root. However, Roofener cautioned, “Don’t expect immediate results. The first course of treatment takes about three weeks, and optimal effects may require three months. Traditional Chinese medicine works gradually.”
It’s surprising that the Cleveland Clinic, one of America’s top hospitals, has begun offering traditional Chinese medicine. While TCM has a long history in China and other Eastern countries, it has not yet been formally integrated into U.S. medical practice due to a lack of evidence supporting its efficacy. The Cleveland Clinic’s TCM outpatient service opened in January this year, with only one practitioner seeing patients every Thursday. Patients must be referred by a physician and are monitored to avoid interactions or complications with other medications. The TCM clinic is part of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine, which also offers acupuncture, holistic therapies, and massage.
Melissa Young, an integrative medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic, said, “Western medicine is indeed highly effective... but we prefer not to rely on it for chronic conditions. Traditional Chinese medicine fills that gap, and the two approaches are not mutually exclusive.”
While acupuncture has taken root in the U.S., TCM clinics remain rare. Northwestern University’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the University of Chicago’s NorthShore University HealthSystem both have TCM departments.
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
Practitioner Roofener takes the patient’s pulse by placing three fingers on each wrist.Leslie Mendoza Temple, medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program at NorthShore University HealthSystem, says the increasing number of doctors referring patients to her for traditional Chinese medicine is a sign of its growing acceptance. Temple recalls that when she first started working in the department, she and her colleagues had to go door-to-door to assure residents they weren’t crazy and that they were a legitimate, safe medical practice. Temple says she receives referrals from neurologists, oncologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists and others.
Jamie Starkey, lead acupuncturist at the Cleveland Clinic, says there is little scientific research outside Asia on Chinese herbs as medicine. Starkey says she had to translate research literature to convince the former medical director of the integrative medicine program that an herbal clinic could make a difference.
Josephine Briggs, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health, says the evidence base is weak when it comes to modern rigorous methods using randomized clinical trials. NCCAM is funding studies that explore the underlying biological mechanisms of some herbal products. But the agency currently isn’t funding any efficacy studies involving humans. Some research explores how herbs might affect drug metabolism.
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
The pharmacy at the Chinese medicine clinic.
Traditional Chinese medicine currently uses thousands of herbs, most derived from plants but some from animals and minerals. Herbs are often combined and can be prepared as capsules, tinctures, powders or teas. If taken in the wrong dosage, they can be toxic.
Herb quality and potential contamination are also concerns. At the Cleveland Clinic, prepackaged Chinese herbs are purchased and ordered through KPC Products Inc., a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Kaiser Pharmaceutical Co. Custom herb blends are made by Crane Herb Co., based in Massachusetts and California.
At the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine, new patients get an hourlong consultation with a doctor that can include a series of questions (How’s your sleep? Body temperature? Any ringing in the ears or headaches?), an examination of the tongue and traditional Chinese pulse diagnosis (three fingers placed on each wrist to check different pulses corresponding to various organ systems). Patients are also asked to sign a statement acknowledging that “herbal supplements are not a substitute for medical diagnosis.”
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
The medicine prescribed by Dr. Ruffner is a traditional Chinese herbal compound prepared in her clinic’s pharmacy, and she also explained the dosage instructions to the patients.
The consultation fee is $100 and is not covered by insurance. Follow-up visits cost $60, and a month’s supply of herbal medicine averages around $100. On one day last month, patients sought treatment at the hospital for issues including chronic pain, anxiety, digestive problems, and multiple sclerosis.
A spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic stated that Ruffner’s medical license does not permit her to claim she can treat diseases. For example, she cannot say that herbal medicine can cure colitis, but she can say it helps relieve diarrhea and pain. The spokesperson added that Ruffner cannot treat arthritis but can alleviate joint pain.
Sumathi Reddy
(This article is copyrighted by Dow Jones & Company, and unauthorized translation or reproduction is prohibited.)
Source: http://cn. wsj. com/ big5/ 20140423/ hea174926. asp
Top US Hospitals Open Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinics
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
At the Cleveland Clinic, traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Galina Roofener consults with patient John McGeehan, who suffers from chronic nausea.
Christina Lunka recently visited the newly opened traditional Chinese medicine department at the Cleveland Clinic, looking both nervous and excited.
Lunka, a 49-year-old resident of Kirtland, Ohio, has seen many doctors for joint pain and digestive issues. Now, she hopes traditional Chinese medicine can alleviate her ailments.
“Are there any anti-inflammatory medications?” Lunka asked Galina Roofener, the TCM practitioner, during an hour-long consultation.
“Of course,” Roofener replied. “This medicine can reduce inflammation and pain, and also aid digestion.” She handed Lunka a bottle of Xiao Yao San, capsules containing eight herbal ingredients, including licorice, peppermint leaves, and white peony root. However, Roofener cautioned, “Don’t expect immediate results. The first course of treatment takes about three weeks, and optimal effects may require three months. Traditional Chinese medicine works gradually.”
It’s surprising that the Cleveland Clinic, one of America’s top hospitals, has begun offering traditional Chinese medicine. While TCM has a long history in China and other Eastern countries, it has not yet been formally integrated into U.S. medical practice due to a lack of evidence supporting its efficacy. The Cleveland Clinic’s TCM outpatient service opened in January this year, with only one practitioner seeing patients every Thursday. Patients must be referred by a physician and are monitored to avoid interactions or complications with other medications. The TCM clinic is part of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine, which also offers acupuncture, holistic therapies, and massage.
Melissa Young, an integrative medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic, said, “Western medicine is indeed highly effective... but we prefer not to rely on it for chronic conditions. Traditional Chinese medicine fills that gap, and the two approaches are not mutually exclusive.”
While acupuncture has taken root in the U.S., TCM clinics remain rare. Northwestern University’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the University of Chicago’s NorthShore University HealthSystem both have TCM departments.
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
Practitioner Roofener takes the patient’s pulse by placing three fingers on each wrist.Leslie Mendoza Temple, medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program at NorthShore University HealthSystem, says the increasing number of doctors referring patients to her for traditional Chinese medicine is a sign of its growing acceptance. Temple recalls that when she first started working in the department, she and her colleagues had to go door-to-door to assure residents they weren’t crazy and that they were a legitimate, safe medical practice. Temple says she receives referrals from neurologists, oncologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists and others.
Jamie Starkey, lead acupuncturist at the Cleveland Clinic, says there is little scientific research outside Asia on Chinese herbs as medicine. Starkey says she had to translate research literature to convince the former medical director of the integrative medicine program that an herbal clinic could make a difference.
Josephine Briggs, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health, says the evidence base is weak when it comes to modern rigorous methods using randomized clinical trials. NCCAM is funding studies that explore the underlying biological mechanisms of some herbal products. But the agency currently isn’t funding any efficacy studies involving humans. Some research explores how herbs might affect drug metabolism.
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
The pharmacy at the Chinese medicine clinic.
Traditional Chinese medicine currently uses thousands of herbs, most derived from plants but some from animals and minerals. Herbs are often combined and can be prepared as capsules, tinctures, powders or teas. If taken in the wrong dosage, they can be toxic.
Herb quality and potential contamination are also concerns. At the Cleveland Clinic, prepackaged Chinese herbs are purchased and ordered through KPC Products Inc., a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Kaiser Pharmaceutical Co. Custom herb blends are made by Crane Herb Co., based in Massachusetts and California.
At the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine, new patients get an hourlong consultation with a doctor that can include a series of questions (How’s your sleep? Body temperature? Any ringing in the ears or headaches?), an examination of the tongue and traditional Chinese pulse diagnosis (three fingers placed on each wrist to check different pulses corresponding to various organ systems). Patients are also asked to sign a statement acknowledging that “herbal supplements are not a substitute for medical diagnosis.”
Michael F. McElroy for the Wall Street Journal
The medicine prescribed by Dr. Ruffner is a traditional Chinese herbal compound prepared in her clinic’s pharmacy, and she also explained the dosage instructions to the patients.
The consultation fee is $100 and is not covered by insurance. Follow-up visits cost $60, and a month’s supply of herbal medicine averages around $100. On one day last month, patients sought treatment at the hospital for issues including chronic pain, anxiety, digestive problems, and multiple sclerosis.
A spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic stated that Ruffner’s medical license does not permit her to claim she can treat diseases. For example, she cannot say that herbal medicine can cure colitis, but she can say it helps relieve diarrhea and pain. The spokesperson added that Ruffner cannot treat arthritis but can alleviate joint pain.
Sumathi Reddy
(This article is copyrighted by Dow Jones & Company, and unauthorized translation or reproduction is prohibited.)
Source: http://cn. wsj. com/ big5/ 20140423/ hea174926. asp