Effect of Bloodletting at Shaoshang and Shangyang Acupuncture Points on Outcome and Prognosis of Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Elderly.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore, whether treatment with bloodletting at Shaoshang and Shangyang acupuncture points would affect therapy outcome and prognosis for severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) in the elderly. METHODS: A total of 62 patients, who met the diagnostic criteria for SCAP, were enrolled in the study and randomly divided into two groups, i.e., treatment group (n = 31) and control group (n = 31). All patients received a therapy according to the Chinese Clinical Practice and Expert Consensus of Emergency Severe Pneumonia from 2016. In addition to that, a bloodletting at Shaoshang (LU11) and Shangyang (LI1) acupuncture points was applied for the treatment group. This intervention was repeated for three times (ones daily), bloodletting a volume of 2-3 ml at each time point. Differences in a main index of clinical efficacy, body temperature (T), respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (Hr), white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil percentage (N%), and C-reactive protein level (CRP) as well as different scores (CURB-65 score, SOFA score, and Apache II score) were compared between groups. Moreover, the 28-day mortality was compared between treatment and control group. The statistical methods involved in carrying out the current study include t-test, Wilcoxon test, and chi-square test. RESULTS: The clinical effective rate of the treatment group was 82.9%, which was significantly higher than the 17.1% in the control group (P < 0.05). After finishing the intervention, the treatment group showed significantly lower T (37.28 ± 0.54 vs. 37.82 ± 0.81), RR (20.06 ± 2.67 vs. 23.71 ± 6.85), Hr (81.71 ± 10.38 vs. 93.84 ± 15.39), CUBR-65 score (2.16 ± 0.74 vs. 3.03 ± 0.98), and SOFA score (5.84 ± 3.83 vs. 8.16 ± 4.2) compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The 28-day mortality rate of the treatment group was significantly lower than in the control group (12.9% vs. 45.2%, P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Bloodletting at Shaoshang and Shangyang acupuncture points can support improving the clinical treatment efficacy for SCAP and reduce the 28-day mortality rate in the elderly.

Effectiveness of Chinese Herbal Medicine Combined with Antibiotics for Extensively Drug-Resistant Enterobacteria and Nonfermentative Bacteria Infection: Real-Life Experience in a Retrospective Cohort.

Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have been successfully used in the treatment of infectious diseases, yet the effectiveness of CHMs for extensively drug-resistant enterobacteria (XDRE) infection remains unclear. Herein we developed a retrospective multicenter study including 766 patients with XDRE and nonfermentative bacteria (NFB) infection to investigate the effectiveness of CHMs combined with antibiotics in the treatment of XDRE infections in clinical daily practice in a cohort of patients and compared the regular antibiotics monotherapy. After 14-day treatment, the 547 patients accepted CHMs combined with antibiotics therapy indicating a more desirable effectiveness compared to the 219 patients treated with antibiotics monotherapy. The primary evaluation indexes included white blood cell count (WBC) and percentage of neutrophil (N%) in blood test. Secondary evaluation indexes consisted of body temperature, breath, heart rate, platelets, hemoglobin, red blood cell, albumin, creatinine, glucose, and 28-day survival rates. Briefly speaking, in our experience, CHMs combined with antibiotics therapy achieved more desirable effectiveness in treating XDRE infections compared with antibiotics monotherapy, and CHMs might be a potential huge resource in the field of XDRE infection management and enlighten the new antibiotics research and development. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-ORC-17011760.