RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The most common disease of the older age group in Turkey is degenerative articular disease and pain associated with the disease. Analgesics and physical therapy are preferred treatment for geriatric chronic pain but suffering from multiple medical and nutritional problems in old ages can limit treatment options with analgesics due to an increased risk of adverse effects and drug interactions. OBJECTIVES: We aim to show the effect of acupuncture on back-pain and knee-pain treatment of elderly people. METHODS: The study includes 34 patients, 24 female and 8 male. The mean age was 69.0417 ± 8.95 years for females and 73.12 ± 8.95.24 years for males. Every two days for a total of 10 sessions acupuncture treatment to Yintang, Ht 7 (Shenmen), LI 4 (Hegu), Ki 3 (Taixi) and Ki 6 were found to significantly reduce pain scores of patients. RESULTS: Mean back pain scores (8.8696 ± 1.546) and mean knee pain scores (9.1304 ± 1.4239) of patients were reduced significantly to 2.1739 ± 1.466 and 1.455 ± 0.7; p< 0.001 respectively after the acupuncture treatment. CONCLUSION: These are important results as they give rationale to use acupuncture treatment widely in chronic low back pain and knee pain in the geriatric group of patients to reduce the side effects of polypharmacy in elderly.
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura/métodos , Dor Crônica/terapia , Joelho/fisiopatologia , Dor Lombar/terapia , Manejo da Dor/métodos , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Dor Crônica/fisiopatologia , Feminino , Humanos , Dor Lombar/fisiopatologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Resultado do Tratamento , TurquiaRESUMO
Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterised by an increase in plasma cells, particularly in the bone marrow but also in other organs and systems, and with the abnormal production of immunoglobulin. Bortezomib, a current treatment option, inhibits angiogenesis by proteasome inhibition and is known to be effective in the treatment of MM. Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is a common dose-related side effect of bortezomib in patients with MM. We describe a case of PN due to bortezomib treatment which responded dramatically to acupuncture treatment, enabling his bortezomib treatment to continue. The patient was a 74-year-old man with pain, numbness, tingling and weakness in his hands and feet after 22 days of bortezomib treatment given by the haematology clinic. His neuropathic pain score was 8/10. There were no autonomic symptoms. Electroneurophysiological testing confirmed sensorimotor PN. Acupuncture treatment was planned as his neuropathic pain continued. Acupuncture was administered bilaterally to ST36, SP6 and LI4 15 times (every other day in the first five sessions and then twice a week). The numbness, tingling and pain symptoms substantially decreased after the first two treatments. After the 15th session acupuncture treatment was continued once a month. At the end of the sixth month the neuropathic pain assessment score was 0/10. There was no side effect of acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture seems promising as a complementary medical treatment for neuropathic pain from bortezomib-induced PN. Clinical studies involving more cases and electrophysiological studies are necessary to investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture.
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura , Ácidos Borônicos/efeitos adversos , Mieloma Múltiplo/tratamento farmacológico , Neuralgia/terapia , Pirazinas/efeitos adversos , Idoso , Ácidos Borônicos/uso terapêutico , Bortezomib , Humanos , Masculino , Neuralgia/induzido quimicamente , Pirazinas/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
The purpose of this study is to contribute to efforts to understand the pathophysiology of migraine and create an alternative perspective for prophylaxis and treatment of migraine attacks. Acupuncture treatment was applied to the 22 volunteer migraine patients. The acupuncture treatment consists of 5 sessions with 2 sessions per week. Blood samples have been collected before performing acupuncture, after the 1st session and after the 5th session of the acupuncture. And for the control group blood samples were collected only once. In our study the mean serum NO levels in healthy people were (3.58 ± 0.53) while patients with migraine group were (5.55 ± 0.70) respectively. Serum NO levels were 55% higher in migraine group compared to the control group. The NO concentration also decreased after 5th session (30%) (p < 0.05). After the 1st sessions NO level decreased 4.86% in the migraine group. After the 5th session NO level decreased 30.63% in the migraine group. After the 5th session NO level decreased 27.08% compared to 1st session in the migraine group. After the 1st session of acupuncture treatment, level of NO in migraine group were 4.86% and it is reduced but statistically not significant. After the 5th acupuncture treatment serum NO levels were reduced to (3.85 ± 0.62) 30.63% in migraine group and were statistically lower (p < 0.05). After the 5th session NO level decreased 27.08% compared to 1st session in the migraine group. In this study, acupuncture treatment is appeared to be effective by lowering the levels of serum NO and acupuncture has cumulative effects. Although there are earlier studies showing the effect of NO in migraine, this has been the 1st study in this field, which shows the effect of acupuncture on NO in migraine patients.
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura , Transtornos de Enxaqueca/terapia , Óxido Nítrico/sangue , Pontos de Acupuntura , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Transtornos de Enxaqueca/sangue , Resultado do Tratamento , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Blood pressure control is an important component of cardiovascular disease prevention. Despite the advances in the treatment of hypertension; effective management remains poor. The combined use of multiple drug strategies fail to regulate blood pressure and chronic use of those agents cause severe side-effects. New strategies are required to control high blood pressure. We aim in our study to research the effects of acupuncture treatment on blood pressure of hypertensive patients who have already been exposed to antihypertensive drug therapy for at least 24 months. Each patient was using 1-3 antihypertensive drug of a heterogeneous pharmacological group ranging from ACE inhibitors, diuretics, and beta blockers and the most common complaint of those patients were fatigue, dizziness, weakness, headache and joint pain, sleeping problems, cold hands and feet, edema, depression. We did not alter patients' diet (salt intake), physical activity or use of antihypertensive drugs. The study includes 24 male and 10 female patients. Ki 3 (Taixi), Liv 3 (Taichong), Sp 9 (Yinlingquan), L.I. 4 (Hegu), Ht 7 (Shenmen), St 36 (Zusanli), Sp 6 (Sanyinjiao), Ki 7 (Fulio), Lu 9 acupuncture points were needled. After being treated with acupuncture for one month in every two days for a total of 15 sessions, we found significant reductions (p ? 001) in both systolic (from 163.14 +/- 19.33 to 129.49 +/- 18.52) and diastolic (from 94.37 +/- 19.70 to 79.31 +/- 7.87) blood pressures of these patients. The aim here is not to compare the effectiveness of acupuncture and drug therapy on blood pressure, but to simply report that on patients currently using antihypertensive medication, acupuncture facilitated a significant reduction in blood pressure and reduced the patients complaints. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggest that acupuncture should be in the hypertension treatment guidelines and widely used for blood pressure regulation.
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura/métodos , Anti-Hipertensivos/uso terapêutico , Pressão Sanguínea/efeitos dos fármacos , Hipertensão/prevenção & controle , Hipertensão/fisiopatologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Terapia Combinada , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Resultado do Tratamento , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Nocturia is a common symptom in the elderly. It causes sleeping disorders and is also associated with a higher risk of falling and increased mortality. The majority of nocturia patients prescribed desmopressin although it may cause significant hyponatremia which is a serious life threatening side effect. There is a need to use safer alternative treatment strategies specialy for older nocturia patients. We aim to examine the effect of acupuncture treatment on nocturia patients as a safe alternative treatment option. 35 nocturia patients have been joined to our study aged between 28 to 72. Among those patients in the study, 23 were female while 12 were male. Acupuncture treatment were applied in every 2 days totaling 10 sessions and each treatment session has lasted for 20 minutes. Nocturia frequency of the patients were recorded 1 to 6 before acupuncture treatment sessions. We have observed that nocturia symptoms recovered completely in 60% of the patients at the end of 10 sessions of the treatment while nocturia frequency were reduced to one per night in 37% of the patients. On the other hand nocturia sypmtoms in 2.8% of the patients were not changed at all. As a result 97% of the patients have responded to acupuncture treatment positively which applied bilaterally to Yintang point, Ki 3, Liv 3, Sp 9, L.I. 4, Ht 7, Sp 6, Lu 9, Sp 3, P 6 points. According to our results we conclude that acupuncture treatment should be widely used in nocturia patients of older ages as well as relatively younger adults.
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura , Noctúria/terapia , Pontos de Acupuntura , Adulto , Idoso , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Obesity is an energy balance problem caused by overeating. Obesity treatment includes diet, exercise, behaviour treatment, pharmacotherapy and surgery; in addition, acupuncture is also an option. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of acupuncture on weight loss and whether a brief acupuncture treatment of 5 weeks can change circulating levels of leptin, ghrelin, insulin and cholecystokinin (CCK) in obese women. METHODS: 40 women with a body mass index (BMI)>30 kg/m(2) were equally randomised to either an acupuncture group or a sham (non-penetrating) acupuncture group and received treatment at LI4, HT7, ST36, ST44 and SP6 bilaterally. Both groups had two sessions of 20 min/week for a total of 10 sessions. Serum insulin, leptin, plasma ghrelin and CCK levels were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: Acupuncture treatment decreased insulin and leptin levels and induced weight loss, together with a decrease in BMI compared with sham acupuncture. Furthermore, between-group analyses demonstrated increases in plasma ghrelin and CCK levels in subjects who received acupuncture treatment. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that acupuncture may help to regulate weight owing to its beneficial effects on hormones such as insulin, leptin, ghrelin and CCK in obese subjects even after a few weeks of treatment.
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura , Colecistocinina/sangue , Grelina/sangue , Insulina/sangue , Leptina/sangue , Obesidade/terapia , Pontos de Acupuntura , Adulto , Índice de Massa Corporal , Feminino , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Obesidade/sangue , Obesidade/fisiopatologia , Redução de PesoRESUMO
Hypertension possess a significant risk factor for a variety of diseases and affects millions of people all around the world. Recent studies suggest that NO plays a role in pathogenesis of hypertension while some investigators find a close relationship between acupuncture treatment and NO levels. We therefore aimed to investigate the effect of acupuncture on the levels of blood pressure and nitric oxide (NO) in hypertensive patients. After obtaining institutional ethics committee approval and patients' informed consent, 32 essential hypertensive patients aged between 32-65 and taking antihypertensive drugs were included to the study. A total of 10 sessions of manual acupuncture were applied on body acupoints (EX-HN3 (Yintang), KI 3, LIV 3, SP 9, LI 4, HT 7, ST 36, SP 6) in 10 weeks. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels and blood NO levels were measured for 3 times (i.e. before & after the first session, and after the 10th session). Main outcome measures of our study were the changes in SBP and DBP as well as nitric oxide levels between 3 measurements were compared. Our study showed that SBP and DBP values decreased both after the 1st and 10th sessions of acupuncture treatments (p<0.05). The NO concentration also increased both after the 1st (71.5%) and 10th sessions (184.6%) (p<0.05).
Assuntos
Terapia por Acupuntura , Hipertensão/fisiopatologia , Hipertensão/terapia , Óxido Nítrico/sangue , Pontos de Acupuntura , Adulto , Idoso , Pressão Sanguínea , Feminino , Humanos , Hipertensão/sangue , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
In this study we aimed to evaluate the in vivo effects of myrtle oil (myrtii oleum) on the antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase, the levels of malondialdehyde in liver tissues as an index of lipid peroxidation and nitrite-nitrate levels in normoglycaemic and alloxan-induced diabetic and MO-treated rabbits. In our previous study, we assumed that MO with a dose of 50 mg/kg, possesses a hypoglycemic activity and this activity was independent from the effects of insulin. Myrtle oil exerts its hypoglycemic activity by enhanced glycolysis, glycogenesis and decreased glycogenolysis. What is more glucose load data strongly suggest that MO treatment produces hypoglycemia mainly by reducing intestinal absorption of glucose, so MO could be an alpha-glycosidase enzyme inhibitor which had a hypoglycaemic effect only on alloxan-induced diabetic rabbits on the fourth hour and on orally glucose loaded group. The major finding of this new study is that, MO may not offer any protection against oxidative stress during acute studies in normoglycemic and diabetic groups. Although the levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase enzyme activities did not change during acute studies in diabetes + MO group, there was a significant change at the end of 21 days. There is a very limited knowledge about MO and its effects on diabetes. Therefore, we tried to explain the mechanism that might underlie the protective effects of MO with this paper.
Assuntos
Antioxidantes/farmacologia , Diabetes Mellitus Experimental/tratamento farmacológico , Hipoglicemiantes/farmacologia , Myrtus/química , Óleos de Plantas/farmacologia , Aloxano , Animais , Antioxidantes/isolamento & purificação , Catalase/efeitos dos fármacos , Catalase/metabolismo , Feminino , Glucose/metabolismo , Homeostase/efeitos dos fármacos , Hipoglicemiantes/isolamento & purificação , Peroxidação de Lipídeos/efeitos dos fármacos , Fígado/efeitos dos fármacos , Fígado/metabolismo , Masculino , Malondialdeído/metabolismo , Nitratos/metabolismo , Nitritos/metabolismo , Estresse Oxidativo/efeitos dos fármacos , Óleos de Plantas/isolamento & purificação , Plantas Medicinais/química , Coelhos , Superóxido Dismutase/efeitos dos fármacos , Superóxido Dismutase/metabolismoRESUMO
Myrtus communis L. (Myrtaceae) leaves as well as the volatile oil (Myrtii Oleum; MO) obtained from the leaves are used to lower the blood glucose level in type-2 diabetic patients in Turkish folk medicine. However, little attention has been paid to the therapeutic use of this plant. The present study was designed to investigate the oral hypoglycaemic activity of single and multiple doses of MO in normal and alloxan-diabetic rabbits. MO did not show any effect in normoglycaemic rabbits either in single or multiple dose administrations, but a good hypoglycaemic activity was observed 4 h after the administration to diabetic animals at 50 mg/kg. To investigate the effect of MO on repeated administration in both normal and diabetic rabbits, it was administered in 50 and 100 mg/kg doses once a day for one week. MO significantly lowered blood glucose by 51% in alloxan-diabetic rabbits on the fourth hour and the following days at a dose of 50 mg/kg (P < 0.001). The hypoglycaemic dose (50 mg/kg) was also determined by performing the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in normal rabbits. The hypoglycaemic effect of the MO was 21% higher in rabbits, which received the glucose load orally, when compared with control group. However, MO did not affect serum insulin concentrations in normal and alloxan-diabetic rabbits but reduced the serum triglyceride concentrations by 14% in alloxan-diabetic rabbits. The above observations show that MO exerts hypoglycaemic as well as mild hypotriglyceridemic activity in diabetic animals. The reduction in blood glucose level may be due to the reversible inhibition of alpha-glucosidases present in the brush-border of the small intestinal mucosa, higher rate of glycolysis as envisaged by the higher activity of glucokinase, as one of the key enzymes of glycolysis, and enhanced rate of glycogenesis as evidenced by the higher amount of liver glycogen present after MO administration.