[Comparision of therapertic effect of different acupuncture methods for knee osteoarthritis].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical efficacy of acupuncture, electroacupuncture (EA) and moxibustion in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA). METHODS: A total of eight-four patients with KOA were randomly and equally divided into acupuncture group, EA group and moxibustion group. Neixiyan (EX-LE40), Dubi (ST35), Heding (EX-LE2), Liangqiu (ST34), Xuehai (SP10), Zusanli (ST36) and Ashi-point on the affected side of the body were punctured with filiform needles or EA (2 Hz/100 Hz) for 30 min. In the moxibustion group, moxibustion was applied to the surrounding area of the affected joint for 60 min. The treatment was conducted once every other day for 4 weeks. The pain degree was assessed by using numerical rating scale (NRS) and the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scale (0－240 points) was used to evaluate the severity of KOA. The "Minimal Clinically Important Improvement (MCII)" was used to assess the therapeutic effect after the treatment. RESULTS: After the treatment, the scores of NRS, and the pain, stiffness, motor function and total scores of WOMAC were significantly decreased in the three groups compared with their own pre-treatment (P<0.05), and were obviously lower in the EA and moxibustion groups than in the acupuncture group (P<0.05), and those of the moxibustion group was notably lower than those of the acupuncture group (P<0.05). Of the 28 cases in the acupuncture, EA and moxibustion groups, 11, 17 and 22 were effective, with the effective rate being 39.29%, 60.71% and 78.57%, respectively. The comprehensive therapeutic effect of the moxibustion group was significantly superior to that of the acupuncture and EA groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: All the three different kinds of acupuncture and moxibustion methods have positively regulatory effect on KOA, and moxibustion is the best for reducing the joint pain and stiffness, and improving the motor function.

[Application characteristics of abdominal acupuncture based on data mining technique].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the disease spectrum and predominant diseases treated by abdominal acupuncture by data mining and analysis of journal articles on abdominal acupuncture, and to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: Based on the database of abdominal acupuncture established by the research group, the data mining technique was used for the analysis and extraction of the articles on abdominal acupuncture included in this study. RESULTS: A total of 788 original journal articles were included. Six departments and 96 disease categories, among which there were 45 internal diseases (46.84%) and 18 surgical diseases (18.75%) were involved. As for the diseases involved, cervical spondylosis had the highest frequency of 84, followed by low back and leg pain with a frequency of 77 and stroke sequela with a frequency of 67. Of all 788 studies, 519 (65.86%) used abdominal acupuncture combined with other therapies with a total frequency of 552, among which acupuncture had the highest frequency of 135 (24.46%), followed by oral administration of traditional Chinese medicine with a frequency of 81 (14.67%) and moxibustion with a frequency of 80 (14.49%). Abdominal acupuncture had a marked clinical effect in the treatment of various diseases, with the highest effective rate of 95.10% in surgical diseases. CONCLUSION: Abdominal acupuncture has a wide disease spectrum and is most frequently used for the treatment of cervical spondylosis, with a marked clinical effect. Abdominal acupuncture has unique therapeutic characteristics and advantages, but it can achieve a better clinical effect when combined with other therapies.

[Regularities of clinical application of hand acupuncture therapy to treatment of various diseases based on data mining].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the regularities of clinical application of hand acupuncture therapy to the treatment of diseases of different departments by using data mining technique, so as to provide a reference for clinical practice. METHODS: We searched papers, academic dissertations and case reports (published in journals from Jan 1, 1953 to December 31, 2017) from databases of China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), VIP, and Wanfang, and also searched papers from medical books about hand acupuncture treatment of different diseases/illness by using keywords of "hand acupuncture" and "hand acupoints"， followed by constructing a database after sorting, screening, recording, extracting, and statistical analysis by using a computer. Then, the data mining was conducted for summarizing the characteristics and rules of the hand acupuncture therapy in clinical application. RESULTS: The hand acupuncture therapy in Chinese medical journals was found to be applied to various clinical departments, with the frequency from high to low successively being 16 types of diseases (37.21%) in the surgery, 15 diseases (34.88%) in the internal medicine, 2 diseases (4.65%) in the pediatrics, 8 diseases (18.60%) in the ophthalmology-otorhinolaryngology, 1 disease (2.33%) in the genecology and 1 disease (2.33%) in the dermatology. In the treatment of diseases, the cure plus markedly effective rate of hand acupuncture was found to be highest for diseases of the pediatrics (90.65%), and was 88.45% surgery, 78.06% internal medicine, 89.96% ophthalmology-otorhinolaryngology, 60.61% gynecology, and 67.73% dermatology, respectively. When hand acupuncture used, the acupoints of the hand region on both sides, healthy side and affected side were often selected, and movement exercise was often used in combination, particularly for problems of the surgery. In the collected medical records and 6 acupuncture books, the hand acupuncture was employed for treatment of 34 and 123 kinds of diseases or problems, respectively, with the tissue injury, lumbocrural pain being most frequently seen in the records, and abdominal pain, lumbocrural, chest obstruction, etc. most frequently seen in the acupuncture books. CONCLUSION: Hand acupuncture therapy is widely used in the treatment of many clinical problems of different departments, such as tissue injury, leg pain, etc. of the surgery; abdominal pain, asthma, etc. of the internal medicine; infantile enuresis, diarrhea, etc. of the pediatrics. Acupoints of the hand on the unilateral side are frequently employed and may have a better therapeutic effect.