RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: To observe the curative efficacy of auricular comprehensive therapy on menstrual migraine(MM) and its effect on serum prostaglandin F2α(PGF2α), prostaglandin E2(PGE2) contents and ratio, so as to explore its possible mechanism. METHODS: A total of 66 patients with MM of liver-fire syndrome were randomly divided into observation group (33 cases, 2 cases dropped off) and control group (33 cases, 2 cases dropped off), and 20 healthy women were included in the normal group. Patients in the control group were given flunarizine hydrochloride capsules orally, twice a day, for 3 consecutive weeks. Patients in the observation group were treated with auricular comprehensive therapy, starting 2-5 days before menstrual cramps, once a week, for a total of 3 weeks. The visual analogue scale (VAS) and migraine score were evaluated before and after treatment, and follow-up for 1 and 2 menstrual cycles. Serum PGF2α and PGE2 contents were measured before and after treatment, and the PGF2α/PGE2 ratio was calculated. The clinical effective rates in the two groups were calculated. RESULTS: After treatment and follow-up for 1 and 2 menstrual cycles, the VAS scores, headache degree, the frequency and duration of headache attacks, as well as accompanying symptoms of the observation and control groups were lower than those before treatment(P<0.05), and those of the observation group was lower than those of the control group(P<0.05). Before treatment, the PGF2α contents in the observation and control group were significantly higher(P<0.05), while the PGE2 contents lower(P<0.05) and PGF2α/PGE2 ratio higher(P<0.05) than those in the normal group. After treatment, the serum PGF2α contents in the observation and control group were significantly reduced compared with which before treatment(P<0.05), and were lower in the observation group than that in the control group (P<0.05). The serum PGE2 contents in the observation and control groups were significantly increased after treatment compared with which before treatment(P<0.05), with the contents in the observation group higher than that in the control group(P<0.05). The serum PGF2α/PGE2 ratio in the observation and control group was significantly reduced after treatment compared with which before treatment(P<0.05), with the control group higher than the normal group(P<0.05), and the observation group lower than the control group(P<0.05). The clinical effective rate of the observation group was 93.5% (29/31), and that of the control group was 77.4% (24/31). The effective rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The curative efficacy of auricular comprehensive therapy on MM with liver-fire syndrome is significantly better than that of oral flunarizine hydrochloride capsules, especially in relieving hea-daches, reducing the frequency and duration of headache attacks, as well as accompanying symptoms. Its mechanism may be related to regulating the abnormal PGF2α and PGE2 contents of patients and reducing the ratio of PGF2α/PGE2.