Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2025; 13(21): 103200
Published online Jul 26, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i21.103200
Korean medicine combination treatment for chronic tinnitus unresponsive to conventional treatment: A case report and review of literature
Gawon Choe, Ji Hye Hwang
Gawon Choe, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine, Sandol Korean Medicine Clinic, Sejong 30064, South Korea
Gawon Choe, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine, Pusan National University, Pusan 50612, South Korea
Ji Hye Hwang, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine, Gachon University, Seongnam 13120, South Korea
Co-first authors: Gawon Choe and Ji Hye Hwang.
Author contributions: Choe G contributed conceptualization, methodology, validation, investigation, and data organization of the manuscript; Hwang JH visualized the manuscript; Choe G and Hwang JH formally analyzed, wrote the original manuscript, reviewed, and edited the manuscript; and all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: The patient signed an informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ji Hye Hwang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine, Gachon University, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Seongnam 13120, South Korea. jhbori@nate.com
Received: November 12, 2024
Revised: February 24, 2025
Accepted: April 7, 2025
Published online: July 26, 2025
Processing time: 166 Days and 20.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This case report demonstrates the rapid and sustained efficacy of an individualized Korean medicine combination therapy for a patient with chronic tinnitus unresponsive to conventional Western treatments. A personalized approach incorporating acupuncture-related treatments, Chuna therapy, and temporomandibular joint balancing therapy achieved significant improvements in tinnitus, headache, and neck pain, with benefits maintained at a two-month follow-up. These findings underscore the potential of integrative Korean medicine for treating chronic tinnitus and call for further research to validate this approach.