인삼의 방사선 장해 방어능력에 관한 임상적 연구

Abstract

The clinical problems in the cervical cancer patio ents undergoing radiation treatment is how long it is safe to continue radiation in the presence of blood changes. In this time, a comparative study was performed in 50 cervical cancer patients to establish the effectiveness of Panax ginseng on recovering the injured bone marrow function by radiation therapy. Fifty patients who were treated by radiation only or radiation following radical operation, were randomly divided to two groups. Red ginseng powder was given orally in a daily dose of 5.0 gm to 25 cases and placebo in the identical capsule to 25 cases as control for five weeks. The observation was based on the hemoglobin content, white and red blood cell count, and platelet count which are generally known to fall by irradiation. And, serum protein and bilirubin level were also compared between two groups. The results obtained were summarized as follows. 1. The number of red blood cell changed similarly in both groups and the difference between them was not significant. 2. The difference in hemoglobin content between two groups was not significant. The level of hemoglobin content in treated group was rather lower than that of control group, and there was no recovery tendency in the treated group. 3. White blood cell count in both groups seemed to increase but the difference between them did not show statistical significance. 4. The platelet count in the treated group had tendency to increase rapidly from 4 weeks following treatment and it exceeded that of control group significantly(p<0.05). 5. The amount of serum protein and bilirubin had no significant difference in both groups. The results suggested that ginseng had the pro' tective effect on the depressed bone marrow, only in terms of platelet count. In consequence, more long' term and detailed study is recommended to prove the effect of red ginseng powder on the recovery of depressed bone marrow by irradiation.