Cupping (Hijama) in Skin diseases with positive Koebner’s Phenomenon: What is New?
Khalifa E. Sharquie, Fatema A. Al-Jaralla
J Clin Exp Invest 2019;10(3):em00726.
https://doi.org/10.5799/jcei/5856
Research Article
[Abstract]
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[References]
ABSTRACT
Background: Cupping therapy is an ancient traditional and complementary medicine used in the treatment of a broad range of medical conditions. It is very popular in many countries, especially in China, Korea, and Japan. It is used in the Muslim world, as well as in North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Cupping involves applying a heated cup to generate a partial vacuum that mobilizes the blood flow and promotes effective healing. Till now, there is no certain scientific base for using cupping in treating any medical problem especially skin diseases. Many skin diseases have tendency to appear at the site of injury or damage to the skin, the so called koebners phenomena. Our observation is that hijama induces skin diseases at the site of cupping in patients with skin dis-eases with koebner phenomenon. Objective: to present cases with koebner phenomenon after cupping with primary lesions seen at the site of cupping. Patients and method: a total of 24 male patients previously diagnosed with skin diseases; 16 with psoriasis, 6 with lichen planus, one patient with dermatitis herpetiformis, and one with seborrheic dermatitis. Results: All patients had stable skin diseases prior to cupping but new lesions appeared at the site of cupping around two weeks after the procedure. Conclusion: cupping should not be encouraged for skin diseases with positive koebner phenomenon commonly psoriasis and lichen planus and possibly contraindicated as till now there is no scientific basis for using this procedure.
Keywords: hijama, skin diseases, psoriasis, lichen planus, koebner phenomenon
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Tumor Immunized Autologous Natural Killer Cell (NK) Therapy/Compassionate Use
Serdar Baki Albayrak
J Clin Exp Invest 2019;10(3):em00727.
https://doi.org/10.5799/jcei/5858
Letter to Editor
[Abstract]
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ABSTRACT
As well known, diffuse infiltrative pontine glioma (DIPG)-despite all available treatment modalities- carries a dismal prognosis with a mean survival of around one year [1]. A four year old boy was referred to me with a radiological diagnosis of DIPG. He was irradiated and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPs) was inserted in a health facility in Europe. On admission (seven months after the diagnosis), patient was tracheostomized, conscious, quariparetic and with bilateral abducens and lower cranial nerve paresis. I decided to operate on the patient in order to debulk the necrotic pontine mass and to verify the radiological diagnosis histopathologically. Additionally, I planned to co-culture the tumoral cells with the natural killer (NK) cells isolated from the peripheral venous blood to investigate the immunization and potentiation of autologous NK cells against glioma cells in vitro after the ethical committee approval was obtained from the Istanbul Aydin University. In January 2019, pontine mass was partially removed via telo-velar approach under neurophysiological monitorization with no additional post op deficits and the unilateral abducens nerve recovery. Tumor specimens were sent to the tissue culture labs and the cell culture procedures were carried out meticulously. Meanwhile, routine histopathological evaluation reported the pontine lesion as DIPG (Grade 4 astrocytoma) officially.
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