Treatment of chronic bronchitis given by electronic stimulation on GV meridian (1493 cases) [1]

Posted by : admin on Feb 23, 2008 - 08:13 PM
Acupuncture Clinical Practice / Internal Medicine [2]

1 Data
  There are totally 1493 patients with 866 male and 627 female; oldest is 80 years old and youngest is 10; longest duration of disease is 60 years and shortest is 3; simplified bronchitis is 1224 cases and asthmatic bronchitis is 269.


2 Treatment method
  Patient takes sitting posture and slightly lowers the head, we apply No.28 filiform needle to insert into Dazhui (GV14) [3], Taodao (GV13) [4] etc on GV meridian with 45°angle obliquely upward to head, needling depth is 1.8 to 2 cun. It is unnecessary to have radiating sensation on trunk and four limbs when we apply needling, but it is satisfied sensation for patients to feel numbness on chest when use electronic stimulation, further hand manipulation should be taken if patient does not feel numbness on the chest.
  Electronic apparatus is G-6805 Treatment Apparatus with 80Hz frequency and 3 to 30 milliammeter, electronic stimulation depends on tolerance of patient, treatment is taken every other day, 10 times are one course, we tell patients that patients should stop all of drugs, this therapy is not used for pregnancy and patient with bleeding tendency.


3 Analysis of treatment effect
  3.1: Among 1493 patients
     Recently controlled – 793 patients, 53.11%
     Obviously effective – 382 patients, 25.9%
     Improved – 245 patients, 16.41%
     No effect – 73 patients, 4.89%
     Among 80 patients in inner-patients department,
     Recently controlled or obviously effective – 74 patients, 92.5%
     No effect – 1 patient, 1.3%
  3.2: Comparison observation of electronic treatment with drugs
     The drugs we use include 1g SM (once a day, 42 patients); or 0.5g tetracycline (four times a day, 18 patients); we add 2 tablets of Ke Bi Qing (Drug to stop cough), 0.6g Ya Chloride (three times a day), 0.1g Ammonia-Alkaline (three times a day), 10 days treatment are considered as one course. We randomly choose 100 patients as drug group and another 100 patients as electronic stimulation group. In drug group, 60 patients take one course treatment, among them, recently controlled is 2 patients (3.33%); obviously effective is 8 patients (13.33%); improved is 28 patients (46.67%); no effect is 22 patients (36.67%). In electronic stimulation group, all of 100 patients finish one course treatment, among them, recently controlled is 60 patients (60%); obviously effective is 27 patients (27%); improved is 10 patients ( 10 % ); no effect is 3 patients (3%). So treatment for electronic stimulation group is better than that for drug group (x2=44.2, P<0.01).
  3.3: Changing of sputum amount and coughing number before and after treatment of electronic stimulation.
      Among 80 patients in inner-patient department, daily average sputum before treatment is 83.5ml, sputum after one time treatment is decreased to 34ml (59.28%), and sputum after 10 times is decreased to 9.9ml (88.15%); daily average coughing number before treatment is 568 times, number after 5 times treatment is decreased to 140 times (75.35%), and number after 10 times is decreased to 84 (85.21%).
  3.4: Observation of changing of immunoglobulin:
     Before treatment, 41 patients take exam of immunoglobulin, the averages of 1gG, 1gA and 1gM are higher than these in normal control group. After treatment, 11 patients take exam, all of averages are decreased (decreasing of 1gA has statistic significance).


4 Radiating phenomenon and treatment reaction of electronic stimulation on GV meridian
  Electronic stimulation on GV meridian has specific and complicated radiating phenomenon. After we insert needle to certain depth and connect with electronic apparatus, patient can feel electronic numbness on trunk and limbs combined with heaviness, distension, trembling, cold sensation, pain, itching, warming, burning, water flowing, ant moving, rolling and floating etc. Numbness can radiate from one side of foot up to same side of abdomen, chest or upper limbs along one side or both sides of lower limbs (concentric), or from one side of upper limbs to same side of chest, or continue down to same side of abdomen, lower limbs and feet (eccentric). Sometimes, numbness can radiate from abdomen and hip joints to upward or downward (bi-directional). Increasing current frequency can make numbness radiating faster. If numbness can radiate to affected region or not has relation with treatment effect, effect when numbness radiates to chest is better than that when numbness only radiates to one side of upper limbs, rate is obviously effective is highest when numbness radiates to both sides of chest.
  Common treatment reactions given by electronic stimulation on GV meridian have warming sensation on chest or whole body, red face and ears sometimes, sweating on head or whole body, skin temperature increased, fast or slow pulse. Among 231 patients, 169 patients (71.61%) have warming sensation (1 to 5℃ increased). If patient feels warming or not relates with treatment effect, we choose effective rate of first treatment of cough as example: among 169 patients who feel warming sensation, 120 patients (71.01%) have got effective treatment; among 62 patients who do not feel warming sensation, 32 patients (50.75 %) have got effective treatment, the difference between them has obvious significance (T=2.81, P<0.01) according to statistics.
  Side effect of electronic stimulation on GV meridian
  Among 15,000 times of treatment given by electronic stimulation, number of side effect like fainting is 196 (1.31%), all of patients recover from side effect after 2 to 3 days except one patient feels sequela of sensitive impairment on one side of lower limbs.


5 Discussion
5.1: This treatment method is quick and effective, average daily sputum amount for patients in inner-patient department can be decreased from 83.5ml to 34ml (59.28%) after one time treatment and to 9.9ml (88.15%) after 10 times, obvious effective rate of patients in inner-patient department is 92.5 and that of total patients is 76.83%. Lung and immunity functions, ECG are obviously improved, appetite and sleeping are also improved.
5.2: This method proves: if numbness can radiate to effected region or not relates with treatment effect, effect if numbness can radiate to chest is obviously better than that if numbness only stays on one side of upper limbs, so needling depth is quite important, then numbness sensation should radiate to chest.
5.3: According to body self-test, the depth of needing tip has reached to epidural or subarachnoid regions, sometimes to posterior funiculus of spinal cord, this needing depth is much deeper than traditional needling depth on GV14, so numbness radiating may relate with current dispersing on posterior funiculus, treatment effect may relate with a series of changing on Nerve-Body Fluid after electronic stimulation on posterior funiculus. Some research show that there are sympathetic nerve center from C7 to T4 to regulate lung and blood vessels, so current stimulation excites sympathetic nerve, over-excited parasympathetic nerve is inhibited, then secretion of bronchial mucous gland is decreased so that sputum amount is less. Somebody have found: electronic stimulation on lumbar vertebrae can increase endorphin in the cerebrospinal fluid, endorphin is same quality with morphine, it has functions to stop cough and asthma, eliminate sputum and calm down the mind. The side effect to inhibit sputum secretion can be corrected by adjustment of electronic stimulation, so it is easy for sputum to be spitted in the clinic. But on many times of treatment, why does numbness radiate along different meridians, it is difficult to explain. In recent years, somebody believe that anatomy location of GV is on epidural region, so if running courses of foot-taiyang, foot-shaoyang, foot-shaoyin merdians and belt vessel relate with that GV meridian controls all of yang meridians, communicates with taiyang, connects with kidney along vertebrae and downwardly relates with belt vessel or not depends on further research.


Key Words: chronic bronchitis, electronic stimulation, GV meridian

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