[Effect of Acupuncture at Thirteen Evil Acupoints on Liver Function, and the Contents of Blood Ammonia and ß-endorphin in Patients with Hepatic Encephalopathy].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the therapeutic effect of acupuncture at thirteen evil acupoints in patients with hepatic encephalopathy, and to explore its possible mechanism. METHODS: Patients with hepatic encephalopathy were randomly divided into acupuncture group (n=38) and western medicine group (n=36). Patients in the western medicine group were treated by intravenous injection of aspartate ornithine and branched chain amino acids, and those in the acupuncture group were treated with acupuncture at thirteen evil acupoints on the basis of the western medicine. All the patients were treated for 1 week. The liver function and blood ammonia were measured by automatic biochemical analyzer. The changes of plasma ß-endorphin were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Following the treatment, of the 36 and 38 hepatic encep-halopathy patients in the western medicine and acupuncture groups, 12 and 18 experienced a marked improvement in their symptoms, 13 and 16 were effective, and 11 and 4 invalid, with the effective rates being 69.4% and 89.5%, respectively. Compared with pre-treatment, the levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and plasma ß-endo-rphin and blood ammonia were significantly lower in both western medicine and acupuncture groups(P<0.01), and the therapeutic effects of the acupuncture group were obviously superior to those of the western medicine group in the above mentioned indexes (P<0.05, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of acupuncture at thirteen evil acupoints combined with western medicine can enhance the curative effect of hepatic encephalopathy, improve patients' liver function and decrease the levels of plasma ammonia and ß-endorphin.

A phase I clinical trial of dose escalation of lobaplatin in combination with fixed-dose docetaxel for the treatment of human solid tumours that had progressed following chemotherapy.

In this study, the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of lobaplatin (LBP) when it was combined with docetaxel (TXT) for the treatment of solid tumours that had progressed following chemotherapy was determined, and toxicities to this regimen were evaluated. A modified Fibonacci method was used for the dose escalation of LBP. The patients received TXT (at a fixed dose of 60 mg/m2) on day one (d1) and LBP (at an initial tested dose of 30 mg/m2) on day two (d2) of a treatment cycle that was repeated every 21 days. Each dose group consisted of at least three cases. In the absence of dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), we proceeded to the next dose group, with a dose increment of 5 mg/m2 between groups, until DLT occurred. The dose immediately below the dose that produced DLT was regarded as the MTD. The 17 patients examined in this study completed a total of 58 cycles of chemotherapy, and a total of three dose-escalation groups (30 mg/m2 LBP, 35 mg/m2 LBP, and 40 mg/m2 LBP) were established. The main adverse event that was observed was myelosuppression. DLT occurred in four patients, including three patients in the 40 mg/m2 LBP group and one patient in the 35 mg/m2 LBP group. In total, three out of the four patients in the 40 mg/m2 LBP group exhibited DLT. We determined that the treatment administered to the 35 mg/m2 LBP group represented the MTD. Thus, our phase I trial revealed that the MTD for the tested LBP combination regimen was 35 mg/m2 LBP and 60 mg/m2 TXT. This regimen resulted in mild adverse reactions and favourable patient tolerance. Therefore, we recommend the use of these dosages in phase II clinical trials.