Revista Internacional de Acupuntura最新文献

This syndrome is caused by the compression of the piriformis muscle on the sciatic nerve, causing a clinical picture such as pain in the gluteal area, tingling sensation or numbness. It is more common in women between the fourth and fifth decades of life. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is treated as a Bi-obstructive syndrome, considered as a disorder in the energy dynamics causing stagnation of Qi or Xue in the meridians and collaterals. A longitudinal and prospective temporal sequence experimental case study was carried out, where acupuncture and TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) were applied on the V 54 Zhi Bian and V 40 Wei Zhong points, whose main purpose was to evaluate the effect of percutaneous acupunctural neuromodulation. The patient after 8 treatment sessions obtained an 85% improvement in pain reduction and increased mobility arches over the hip joint by 95%.

Objective

The aim of the present exploratory work was to investigate if acupuncture objectively improves xerostomia and if results are sufficiently relevant to perform further studies.

Material and methods

A preliminary clinical study, randomized, non-blinded and controlled with a waiting list was designed. The initial sample of the study consisted of 33 patients with malignant neoplasia in the head and neck area, submitted to RT treatment between October 2014 and May 2015 in the Radiotherapy Service of Centro Hospitalar do Porto at Oporto (Portugal). After applying inclusion/exclusion criteria the final patient's sample consisted of 18 patients randomized in two groups (experimental and control groups). The experimental group (EG) was submitted to 8 acupuncture sessions. The control group (CG) consisted of patients of the “waiting list”. All patients were subjected to the sialometry and modified Schimer tests. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire, Core Module (QLQ-C30) and Head and Neck Module (QLQ-H&N35) were also used.

Results

There was a statistically significant increase in the amount of saliva (p < 0.001) and an increase in salivary flow, without stimulation (p = 0.001) and with stimulation (p = 0.011), when comparing experimental and control group. There was also an improvement in the “dry mouth sensation” in EG (p = 0.03) and a tendency to improve symptoms associated with xerostomia in the EG.

Conclusions

Despite the methodological limitations, our study suggests that the acupuncture treatment used can objectively increase salivary production (flow and quantity) and improve the quality of life of the patients. There were not detected side effects associated with acupuncture. These results are sufficiently relevant to perform further studies.

Bias is any process or action that tends to produce conclusions that systematically differ from the truth. Due to this, it is essential that both students and researchers in the area of acupuncture are fully familiar with the bias that has been found in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of acupuncture in order to identify them in the literature or avoid them when conducting RCTs. Thus, this paper aims to provide an overview of the bias of RCTs in acupuncture. The Cochrane tool to assess the risk of bias in RCTs is ROB (risk of bias), and the ROB 2 version is currently used. Bias has been found to occur at different levels in acupuncture studies and is detailed in this paper. There is still a need to increase the quality of acupuncture RCTs to raise the level of evidence provided by such studies in this area.

Background and objectives

Acute pancreatitis causes about 230,000 of the world's hospitalizations yearly, with mortality rates for severe cases reaching 30%. Drugs are responsible for a large percentage of acute pancreatitis incidents, Based on these health risks, this study investigated the role of platelet-rich plasma and electro-acupuncture as protective therapies against tetracycline pancreatic injury effects.

Materials and methods

This study was carried out on 60 rats after they were divided into 4 subgroups (one control and three treatment groups).

Results

The histological and biochemical examination of the pancreas were shown a promising result about the protective effects of the platelet-rich plasma therapies in which the growth factors may result in the induction of pancreatic cell regeneration and decreased inflammation Also, it found that electro-acupuncture is a promising type of therapy to protect the pancreas from tetracycline toxic effects.

Conclusion

The present study's positive outcomes are hoped to contribute to a decline in the tremendous morbidity and mortality rates from drug-induced pancreatic injury around the world.

Objective

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect and effectiveness of electroacupuncture therapy in the treatment of dyslipidemia through a systematic review of the literature.

Methods

Three databases were searched from 2007 to 2020 for studies that included randomized clinical trials with patients with a diagnosis of hyperlipidemia and laboratory animal models induced to hyperlipidemia in English and Chinese language that were treated with electroacupuncture. The level of homogeneity was assessed, and studies were appraised using the STRICTA guidelines for acupuncture reporting and the NICMAN scale for acupuncture quality.

Results

Twelve studies were analyzed: 4 clinical trials and 8 animal models. The examination of these articles showed that electroacupuncture therapy had positive effects on pathology, which was proven by the decrease in biochemical parameters associated with the appearance of this disease, after therapeutic treatment in all the articles.

Conclusion

According to the analysis of these studies, electroacupuncture can act favorably on blood lipids, decreasing their blood concentrations by modulating parameters directly of the metabolic pathways related to lipid synthesis and degradation, and is an effective, safe and economical therapeutic method for the treatment of dyslipidemia.

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic non-specific low back pain (NSLBP).

Methods

It is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. It was developed at the outpatient clinic of the physiotherapy department at the Federal University of Sergipe. 36 individuals were selected and allocated into 2 groups, but finalized 18 subjects in the Real Acupuncture group (RA) and 17 in the Placebo Acupuncture group (PA), due to an individual not completing the treatment with acupuncture or Placebo Acupuncture, being evaluated the intensity and characterization of pain. Subjects were treated three times a week, on alternate days, totaling 10 sessions.

Results

After each of session, pain intensity was significantly lower at rest (p < 0.028) and movement (p < 0.035) in the RA group. In the PA group, pain intensity at rest (p = 0.008) and movement (p = 0.038) were significantly lower after 10 sessions. There was a significant reduction in the number of words selected (NWC; Br-MPQ) in the RA group when comparing sessions 1 and 10 (p = 0.004). And there was a significant decrease in NWC between 1st and 10th session in the PA group (p = 0.017). Regarding the pain classification index (PCI), there was a significant reduction (p = 0.001) when comparing the 1st and 10th session in the RA group. When comparing RA and PA groups, the only significant difference was that CST of the right lower back was significantly lower in the AP group after the 1st and 10th sessions (p = 0.028).

Conclusion

It was concluded that acupuncture on NSLBP patients in the RA group decreased intensity of pain after each session, the NWC and the PCI in the measurement of pain. However, there was no evidence of improvement in sensory tests, psychoemotional aspects and quality of life.

Pre-exam anxiety is highly prevalent among students of all educational levels, leading to decreased performance. This anxiety causes psychological and physiological changes related to stress, which can affect the formation of self-efficacy beliefs. Studies have shown a correlation between pre-exam anxiety, self-efficacy and academic performance. Acupuncture (AC) has an anxiolytic effect recognized in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and anxiety in the pre-operative and pre-exam period. Stress-related variables such as cortisol level, blood pressure and heart rate can be modulated by AC. Brain regions related to the control of the autonomic nervous system, emotional, memory and cognitive processing are also modulated by AC. Therefore, the aim of this study is present a hypothesis about how the AC reduces anxiety and stress through neuroendocrine modulation, optimizing the formation of self-efficacy beliefs, which promote behaviors responsible for improved performance.

Objective

To compare the effect of laser beam application versus catgut implantation in reducing glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and body mass index in obese diabetic patients.

Design

We conducted a clinical, comparative, longitudinal, prospective, and quantitative study.

Location

clinic of the National School of Medicine and Homeopathy of the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City.

Participants

The initial assessment was conducted with 73 patients, resulting in a sample size of 40 patients (20 per group) with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity grades I and II, males and females between 35 and 65 years of age, non-insulin dependent and with no clinical complication of their main comorbidity in the period from September 2019 to February 2020.

Main measurements

We performed simple random sampling to form two groups: group 1 laser, and group 2 catgut. Three elements were sampled (glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides) for blood chemistry, and weight and height were measured for body mass index. Then acupoint treatment was applied in the formula: Yishu (ext), Pishu (V 20), Shenshu (V 23), and Zusanli (E 36) per group for 3 months, and weight and height were measured when the final blood sample was taken.

Results

Various statistical tests were performed. No significant differences (p > .05) were found between group 1 laser and 2 catgut in any of the parametric Student's t-tests. In intra-group tests, at baseline and at the end of treatment there were significant differences only in HbA1c values in the overall group.

Conclusion

The overall objective was to compare the effect of laser beam application versus catgut implantation to decrease 3 variables, of which there was a significant difference only in the HbA1c of group 2, thus fulfilling the null hypothesis.

Evidence-based medicine aims to generate the archetype of the health professional in the “duty to be” and the “duty to do”. In this ideal, the physician should make judicious use of the best evidence in his daily practice. Evidence-based medicine practicing is based on the medical literature's systematic reviews to have the best evidence on specific clinical topics. Systematic reviews are the exhaustive search for evidence, organized, synthesized, evaluated, and critically analyzed. In the last two decades, several researchers published around 1000 acupuncture systematic reviews, which denotes the importance of systematic reviews. This article aims is to give an overview of the evidence-based medicine and the systematic reviews in acupuncture to give a series of publications in Spanish that make easer the generation of systematic reviews of this specialty.

Objective

To verify the effectiveness of acupuncture using Traditional Chinese Medicine tools (pulse and tongue), for several clinical conditions, in the public health service. This is a retrospective clinical study running in a single healthcare referral center in Brazil. Seventy-two patients participated (retrospective review of medical records). Acupuncture treatment was provided at the referral center.

Material and methods

The main outcome measures included the patients' main complaints, sex, pain classification using the verbal rating scale (VRS), observation of the tongue (color change and presence of coating), and pulse palpation, which were used to assess the most affected San Jiao (SJ). The patients' energy status was classified by the acupuncturist as deficient or excessive in the first and last treatment sessions. Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, and binomial proportion test were used for comparisons of data.

Results

Patients experienced significant analgesia at the end of treatment than that before treatment (p < 0.01). At the end of treatment, the tongue showed a greater amount of coating in patients with a deficient energy state (p = 0.02) than in those with excess energy (p = 0.70); however, there was no difference in the tongue color (p > 0.05) between both patient groups. Pulse analysis showed an initial difference according to energy status, with reduced pulse in a deficiency state (p < 0.05), and balanced pulse at the end of the treatment (p = 0.48).

Conclusions

Acupuncture is a therapeutic option for pain control and improved energy balance.