PURPOSE Robotic surgery (RS) overcomes the limitations of previous conventional laparoscopic surgery (CLS). Although meta-analyses have been published recently, our study evaluated the latest comparative surgical, urologic, and sexual results for rectal cancer and compares RS with CLS in patients with rectal cancer only. METHODS We searched three foreign databases (Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-Embase, ...

INTRODUCTION Many patients experience acute lower back pain that becomes chronic pain. The proportion of patients using complementary and alternative medicine to treat lower back is increasing. Even though several moxibustion clinical trials for lower back pain have been conducted, the effectiveness and safety of moxibustion intervention is controversial. The purpose of this study protocol for ...

BACKGROUND The publication rate of presentations at medical international meetings has ranged from 11% to 78% with an average of 45%. To date, there are no studies about the final rate of publications at scientific meetings associated with plastic surgery from Korea. The present authors investigated the publication rate among the presentations at meetings associated with plastic surgery. METH...

OBJECTIVE A systematic review of randomised controlled trials was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of intramuscular stimulation (IMS). METHODS Electronic databases including Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, KoreaMED,...

PURPOSE This study was designed as a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that included the comparison of palonosetron and ramosetron for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) prophylaxis. MATERIALS AND METHODS A systematic search was conducted for the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CENTRAL, KoreaMed, and Google Scholar databases (PROSPERO protocol number CRD42015026009). ...

BACKGROUND We purposed to systemically review studies investigating the prophylactic effect of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological modalities against rocuronium induced withdrawal movement (RIWM) in the Korean population. METHODS Literature search was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Koreamed, KMBASE, KISS and RISS up to March 2014. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) compar...

BACKGROUND Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common and painful complication of acute herpes zoster. In some cases, it is refractory to medical treatment. Preventing its occurrence is an important issue. We hypothesized that applying nerve blocks during the acute phase of herpes zoster could reduce PHN incidence by attenuating central sensitization and minimizing nerve damage and the anti-infla...

PURPOSE Combination therapy with an α-1-adrenergic blocker and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) has shown improvements in lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) with negligible side effects. Nonetheless, decisive advantages in symptom improvement were insufficient, and there were no clinical differences between long- or short-acting PDE5Is in combination with combination medication. ...

BACKGROUND Chorioamnionitis has recently been reported as a risk factor for various neonatal diseases, including cerebral palsy, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and necrotizing enterocolitis, but its effect on patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is unclear. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of chorioamnionitis on PDA. METHODS We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane...

BACKGROUND A systematic literature review of interspinous dynamic stabilization, including DIAM, Wallis, Coflex, and X-STOP, was conducted to assess its safety and efficacy. METHODS The search was done in Korean and English, by using eight domestic databases which included KoreaMed and international databases, such as Ovid Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. A total of 306 articles wer...