Two Years versus One Year of Tianjiu Therapy in Sanfu Days for Chronic Asthma: A Clinical Efficacy Observation Trial

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Randomized trial of acupoints herbal patching in Sanfu Days for asthma in clinical remission stage

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A systematic review and meta-analysis of herbal medicine on chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases

Herbal medicine (HM) as an adjunct therapy has been shown to be promising for the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the role of herbs in COPD remains largely unexplored. In this present study, we conducted the systematic review to evaluate the efficacy of herbs in COPD. 176 clinical studies with reporting pulmonary function were retrieved from English and Chinese database. Commonly used herbs for acute exacerbations stage (AECOPD) and stable COPD stage (SCOPD) were identified. A meta-analysis conducted from 15 high quality studies (18 publications) showed that HM as an adjunct therapy had no significant improvement in pulmonary function (FEV1, FEV%, FVC, and FEV1/FVC) compared to conventional medicine. The efficacy of the adjunct HM on improving the arterial blood gas (PaCO2 and PaO 2) for AECOPD and SCOPD remains inconclusive due to the heterogeneity among the studies. However, HM as an adjunct therapy improved clinical symptoms and quality of life (total score, activity score, and impact score of St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire). Studies with large-scale and double-blind randomized controlled trials are required to confirm the role of the adjunct HM in the management of COPD. © 2014 Hai Yong Chen et al.published_or_final_versio

Two Years versus One Year of Tianjiu Therapy in Sanfu Days for Chronic Asthma: A Clinical Efficacy Observation Trial

Background. Tianjiu therapy has established efficacy against chronic asthma with related symptoms or the medication need during asthma attack. This study aimed to explore the optimal duration of Tianjiu therapy for asthma. Methods. This study was a self-comparison-to-the-baseline study, which comparing treatment with Tianjiu therapy for 1 year and 2 years in the same 102 chronic asthma patients. Totally 6 sessions of Tianjiu treatment were provided, 3 sessions in a year as a course of treatment and totally two years treatment. The primary endpoint was the number of asthma related symptoms which frequently appeared in asthma patients and the frequency of bronchodilator used during asthma attack. Results. The frequency of bronchodilator used during asthma attack significantly improved (χ2=46.276, P=0.000). But the number of asthma related symptoms which frequently appeared in asthma patients added by 1.38 points (95% CI, 0.25 to 2.51), 2.93±0.41 in 1-year group and 4.31±0.41 in the 2-years group (P<0.05). Conclusions. The effect of 2 years Tianjiu therapy was not as effective as 1 year such treatment for asthma, but the second year Tianjiu therapy was still needed because it has a role to consolidate the curative effect of Tianjiu therapy for asthma

A pilot controlled trial of a combination of dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation and body acupuncture for post-stroke depression

BACKGROUND: Our previous studies have demonstrated the treatment benefits of dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation (DCEAS), a novel brain stimulation therapy in patients with major depression, postpartum depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The purpose of the present study was to further evaluate the effectiveness of DCEAS combined with body acupuncture and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in patients with post-stroke depression (PSD). METHODS: In a single-blind, randomized controlled trial, 43 patients with PSD were randomly assigned to 12 sessions of DCEAS plus SSRI plus body electroacupuncture (n = 23), or sham (non-invasive cranial electroacupuncture, n-CEA) plus SSRI plus body electroacupuncture (n = 20) for 3 sessions per week over 4 weeks. Treatment outcomes were measured using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), the Clinical Global Impression - Severity scale (CGI-S) and Barthel Index (BI), a measure used to evaluate movement ability associated with daily self-caring activity. RESULTS: DCEAS produced a significantly greater reduction of both HAMD-17 and CGI-S as early as week 1 and CGI-S at endpoint compared to n-CEA, but subjects of n-CEA group exhibited a significantly greater improvement on BI at week 4 than DCEAS. Incidence of adverse events was not different in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that DCEAS could be effective in reducing stroke patients’ depressive symptoms. Superficial electrical stimulation in n-CEA group may be beneficial in improving movement disability of stroke patients. A combination of DCEAS and body acupuncture can be considered a treatment option for neuropsychiatric sequelae of stroke. TRIAL REGISTRATION: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01174394

Dense Cranial Electroacupuncture Stimulation for Major Depressive Disorder—A Single-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Study

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that electroacupuncture possesses therapeutic benefits for depressive disorders. The purpose of this study was to determine whether dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation (DCEAS) could enhance the antidepressant efficacy in the early phase of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: In this single-blind, randomized, controlled study, patients with MDD were randomly assigned to 9-session DCEAS or noninvasive electroacupuncture (n-EA) control procedure in combination with fluoxetine (FLX) for 3 weeks. Clinical outcomes were measured using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), Clinical Global Impression-severity (CGI-S), and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) as well as the response and remission rates. RESULTS: Seventy-three patients were randomly assigned to n-EA (n = 35) and DCEAS (n = 38), of whom 34 in n-EA and 36 in DCEAS group were analyzed. DCEAS-treated patients displayed a significantly greater reduction from baseline in HAMD-17 scores at Day 3 through Day 21 and in SDS scores at Day 3 and Day 21 compared to patients receiving n-EA. DCEAS intervention also produced a higher rate of clinically significant response compared to n-EA procedure (19.4% (7/36) vs. 8.8% (3/34)). The incidence of adverse events was similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: DCEAS is a safe and effective intervention that augments the antidepressant efficacy. It can be considered as an additional therapy in the early phase of SSRI treatment of depressed patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN88008690

A systematic review of the effectiveness of qigong exercise in supportive cancer care

PURPOSE: Qigong as a complementary and alternative modality of traditional Chinese medicine is often used by cancer patients to manage their symptoms. The aim of this systematic review is to critically evaluate the effectiveness of qigong exercise in cancer care. METHODS: Thirteen databases were searched from their inceptions through November 2010. All controlled clinical trials of qigong exercise among cancer patients were included. The strength of the evidence was evaluated for all included studies using the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine Levels of Evidence. The validity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was also evaluated using the Jadad Scale. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies including eight RCTs and fifteen non-randomized controlled clinical trials (CCTs) were identified. The effects of qigong on physical and psychosocial outcomes were examined in 14 studies and the effects on biomedical outcomes were examined in 15 studies. For physical and psychosocial outcomes, it is difficult to draw a conclusion due to heterogeneity of outcome measures and variability of the results in the included studies. Among reviewed studies on biomedical outcomes, a consistent tendency appears to emerge which suggests that the patients treated with qigong exercise in combination with conventional methods had significant improvement in immune function than the patients treated with conventional methods alone. CONCLUSIONS: Due to high risk of bias and methodological problems in the majority of included studies, it is still too early to draw conclusive statements. Further vigorously designed large-scale RCTs with validated outcome measures are needed.published_or_final_versio