ABSTRACT
Background: Retroauricular injection is a local steroid hormone administration method commonly used to treat deafness or tinnitus. The acute stage of Bell's Palsy is an acute disease that requires steroid therapy. Retroauricular injection may replace oral administration of steroid hormones in the treatment of this disease as well as reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions. Methods: This study included patients with Bell's Palsy within seven days of onset. A total of 120 patients were enrolled as the study subjects and randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. Both groups received routine acupuncture treatment and took a traditional Chinese medicine decoction corresponding with the syndrome type. Methylprednisolone sodium succinate was injected into the bone surface of retroauricula in the experimental group, and prednisone acetate was orally administered in the control group. The main outcome indicators were the House-Brackmann (HB) grade, the facial disability index (FDI), and time of postauricular pain after one month of treatment. Results: There were no significant differences in the HB grade (2.00 ± 1.06 vs. 1.88 ± 1.06, P=), FDIP (97.25 ± 6.00 vs. 97.17 ± 7.39, P=), and FDIS (0.60 ± 3.02 vs. 1.33 ± 4.27, P=) at 30 days after treatment between the two groups (P > 0.05). Postauricular pain disappeared earlier in the experimental group (3.66 ± 1.67 days) than in the control group (6.31 ± 2.34); the difference was statistically significant (P ≤ 0.001). The adverse reaction rate was lower in the experimental group (15.00%) than in the control group (21.66%). Interpretation: Although the dose of steroid hormone injected into the bone surface of retroauricula in the treatment of Bell's Palsy is lower than the administered dose of oral hormones, it has the same curative effect; however, it has a better effect regarding to the duration of postauricular pain and adverse reactions.
ABSTRACT
To explore famous veteran traditional Chinese medicine( TCM) doctors' medication rules in treating spermatorrhea based on the medical cases about spermatorrhea collected from Hundred TCM Clinical Doctors of Hundred Years in China and Proven Cases and National Medical Master Test Case. Researchers extracted such data as medicinal and therapies from these cases according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then,Excle 2010,SPSS Clementine 12. 0 and SPSS 22. 0 were adopted respectively for frequency analysis,association rules analysis,cluster analysis and factor analysis. Cluster analysis was carried out by Ochiai algorithm of binary variable data,one of the systematic clustering methods. And principal component analysis was used for factor analysis. Finally,27 medical cases and 41 prescriptions were included in total. The frequency analysis showed that the most common therapy was the astringent therapy( n = 28),which was followed by the tonifying method,tranquilizing method,heat-clearing method,damp-dispelling method and Qiregulating method. The top three kinds of high-frequency traditional Chinese medicines were Poria,Ostreae Concha and Dioscoreae Rhizoma. The association rules analysis found out 11 association rules of medicine pairs,23 association rules of medicine combinations of the three kinds of herbs and 6 association rules of medicine combinations of five kinds of herbs. Among them,the representatives were Rubi FructusâFossilia Ossis Mastodi,Rehmanniae Radix Praeparata + Corni FructusâDioscoreae Rhizoma,and Pinelliae RhizomaâCitri Reticulatae Pericarpium,which showed the therapeutic characteristics of astringing,tonifying the kidney and replenishing essence,fortifying the spleen and dispelling dampness. Moreover,7 medicine groups with relevance were extracted from the tree map generated by cluster analysis,including " Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex and Anemarrhenae Rhizoma" and " Angelicae Sinensis Radix,Rehmanniae Radix,Bupleuri Radix and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma",which demonstrated the effects of nourishing Yin and purging fire,tonifying and soothing the liver. Besides,totally 12 common factors were obtained according to factor analysis,including 14 drug combinations,like " Amomi Fructus,Anemarrhenae Rhizoma and Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex" and " Nelumbinis Stamen,Moutan Cortex,Poria and Scrophulariae Radix",which indicated the compatibility characteristics of tonifying the spleen and purging fire,dispelling dampness and clearing heat. In conclusion,data mining techniques( including frequency analysis,association rules analysis,cluster analysis and factor analysis) were used to comprehensively analyze the famous veteran TCM doctors' medication rules in treating spermatorrhea,which was helpful for guiding the clinical practice of treating spermatorrhea in TCM.