Research Group of Liver Disease, Hospital of Hubei College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Acute icteric hepatitis of viral origin is a common infectious disease which has not yet any specific treatment. We have used acupuncture therapy for this illness and herewith is a preliminary report of observations.
I. Clinical Observations
A total of 212 cases of acute icteric virus hepatitis was admitted in a period of 5 years including 160 cases of adults and 52 cases of children. Manual teachnique of acupuncture was applied to 129 cases and 83 cases were treated with an electrical acupuncture apparatus. 50 cases were treated with western medicine as control.
Procedure:
The acupuncture points adopted were Taichong through Yongquan and Zusanli.
The manual acupuncture group: Quick entry of the acupuncture needle which was left in the tissues for half an hour, and the needle was twisted every 5 minutes to enhance the effect of acupuncture.
The electrical apparatus group: A G6805 type of pulsatile stimulating apparatus was used. The two electrodes of the machine were respectively connected to the two acupuncture sites, Zusanli and Taichong, using sparse and dense waves of high and low frequencies. The stimulation was applied for half an hour, and the patient began to feel aching, numbness, distension or local muscular tremors. The current was adjusted as could be tolerated by the patient.
The control group using usual western medicine was given glucuronic acid, glucose, and vitamins B & C etc.
Result:
The icteric index (I.I.) of the two group of manual and electrical acupuncture therapy took an average period of 14.2 days for recovery among adults and 8.1 days for recovery among children. The SGPT returned to normal within 28.8 days among adults and 21.3 days, among children. Symptoms improved faster in the acupuncture than the control group. The adults took 4.8 days and the children, 3.9 days to improve their appetite. Clinical cure resulted in 135 cases of adults (84.3%) and 42 cases of children (80.7%). Improvement of symptoms were noted in 24 cases of adults (15.0%) and 10 cases of children (19.2%). One adult was proved ineffective (0.62%). Follow up study:
207 cases of the acupuncture group were followed a period of 3 months to 2 years. The final cure rate was 94.2%.
The I.I. of the control group treated with classical western medicine took an average of 27.8 days for recovery. The SGPT returned to normal with an average period of 33 days. The clinical cure rate was 68%.
II. Bile flow and ultrasonic observations
1. The effect of acupuncture on bile flow:
In 12 cases in whom a choledochostomy was performed, 43 of 58 times after acupuncture resulted in an increase of bile flow, at 10 times after acupuncture there was no change of bile flow, and 5 times the flow actually decreased. When the bile flow was increased, it occurred in 15 minutes after acupuncture stimulation, the climax being reached in 30 minutes or so.
If atropine was administered as premedication, an increase of bile flow would not occur after acupuncture, indicating a vagal effect of acupuncture treatment.
2. Effect of acupuncture on ultrasonic observations on the gall bladder:
In 32 cases of acute & chronic hepatitis and infection of the biliary tract, and toxic hepatitis, there was observed a contraction of the gall bladder on acupuncture stimulation, as shown by ultrasonic scanning. This is most probably due to para-sympathetic stimulation of acupuncture. Such observations indicate that the improvement of icterus might be due to a choleretic effect of acupuncture.
According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and the classical principle "Xun jing qu xue" ( "selection of distal points according to the course of the Channels") acute icteric viral hepatitis was treated with acupuncture. As the etiology of this disease in the theoretical system of traditional chinese medicine means " Shire yunjie gan dan" (dampheat concentration in the liver and the gall bladder), so that ", Qingre lishi, shugan lidan" (to disperse the heat and enforce damp and to regulate the function of liver and gall bladder) is adopted as the basic principle of therapy. At the same time, according to the principle ", , jan gan zhi bing, zhi gan chuan pi, dang xian shi pi" (If there was trouble with liver first of all, the function of the "spleen" was regulated because function of the liver transmits to the "spleen"). To improve the digestive function, therefore, the main acupuncture points are selected from the channels of liver, gall bladder, spleen and stomach.
How acupuncture therapy exerts its effect on acute viral icteric hepatitis is not yet well understood. Choleresis might be a factor. acupuncture could readjust the functions of the human body, increase the resistance, so as to bring about a cure of the disease. We are making attempt to assess the immunity effect of acupuncture, but this work has just began, and further studies are required to clarify the situation.
We have come to the conclusion that acupuncture is a simple and inexpensive means in treating acute icteric viral hepatitis, the initial results being to us quite satisfactory.
Acute icteric hepatitis of viral origin is a common infectious disease which has not yet any specific treatment. We have used acupuncture therapy for this illness and herewith is a preliminary report of observations.
I. Clinical Observations
A total of 212 cases of acute icteric virus hepatitis was admitted in a period of 5 years including 160 cases of adults and 52 cases of children. Manual teachnique of acupuncture was applied to 129 cases and 83 cases were treated with an electrical acupuncture apparatus. 50 cases were treated with western medicine as control.
Procedure:
The acupuncture points adopted were Taichong through Yongquan and Zusanli.
The manual acupuncture group: Quick entry of the acupuncture needle which was left in the tissues for half an hour, and the needle was twisted every 5 minutes to enhance the effect of acupuncture.
The electrical apparatus group: A G6805 type of pulsatile stimulating apparatus was used. The two electrodes of the machine were respectively connected to the two acupuncture sites, Zusanli and Taichong, using sparse and dense waves of high and low frequencies. The stimulation was applied for half an hour, and the patient began to feel aching, numbness, distension or local muscular tremors. The current was adjusted as could be tolerated by the patient.
The control group using usual western medicine was given glucuronic acid, glucose, and vitamins B & C etc.
Result:
The icteric index (I.I.) of the two group of manual and electrical acupuncture therapy took an average period of 14.2 days for recovery among adults and 8.1 days for recovery among children. The SGPT returned to normal within 28.8 days among adults and 21.3 days, among children. Symptoms improved faster in the acupuncture than the control group. The adults took 4.8 days and the children, 3.9 days to improve their appetite. Clinical cure resulted in 135 cases of adults (84.3%) and 42 cases of children (80.7%). Improvement of symptoms were noted in 24 cases of adults (15.0%) and 10 cases of children (19.2%). One adult was proved ineffective (0.62%). Follow up study:
207 cases of the acupuncture group were followed a period of 3 months to 2 years. The final cure rate was 94.2%.
The I.I. of the control group treated with classical western medicine took an average of 27.8 days for recovery. The SGPT returned to normal with an average period of 33 days. The clinical cure rate was 68%.
II. Bile flow and ultrasonic observations
1. The effect of acupuncture on bile flow:
In 12 cases in whom a choledochostomy was performed, 43 of 58 times after acupuncture resulted in an increase of bile flow, at 10 times after acupuncture there was no change of bile flow, and 5 times the flow actually decreased. When the bile flow was increased, it occurred in 15 minutes after acupuncture stimulation, the climax being reached in 30 minutes or so.
If atropine was administered as premedication, an increase of bile flow would not occur after acupuncture, indicating a vagal effect of acupuncture treatment.
2. Effect of acupuncture on ultrasonic observations on the gall bladder:
In 32 cases of acute & chronic hepatitis and infection of the biliary tract, and toxic hepatitis, there was observed a contraction of the gall bladder on acupuncture stimulation, as shown by ultrasonic scanning. This is most probably due to para-sympathetic stimulation of acupuncture. Such observations indicate that the improvement of icterus might be due to a choleretic effect of acupuncture.
According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and the classical principle "Xun jing qu xue" ( "selection of distal points according to the course of the Channels") acute icteric viral hepatitis was treated with acupuncture. As the etiology of this disease in the theoretical system of traditional chinese medicine means " Shire yunjie gan dan" (dampheat concentration in the liver and the gall bladder), so that ", Qingre lishi, shugan lidan" (to disperse the heat and enforce damp and to regulate the function of liver and gall bladder) is adopted as the basic principle of therapy. At the same time, according to the principle ", , jan gan zhi bing, zhi gan chuan pi, dang xian shi pi" (If there was trouble with liver first of all, the function of the "spleen" was regulated because function of the liver transmits to the "spleen"). To improve the digestive function, therefore, the main acupuncture points are selected from the channels of liver, gall bladder, spleen and stomach.
How acupuncture therapy exerts its effect on acute viral icteric hepatitis is not yet well understood. Choleresis might be a factor. acupuncture could readjust the functions of the human body, increase the resistance, so as to bring about a cure of the disease. We are making attempt to assess the immunity effect of acupuncture, but this work has just began, and further studies are required to clarify the situation.
We have come to the conclusion that acupuncture is a simple and inexpensive means in treating acute icteric viral hepatitis, the initial results being to us quite satisfactory.
No comments:
Post a Comment