Sunday, December 1, 2013

Treating coronary heart disease by acupuncture at neiguan (PC6) and xinahu (BL15): an efficacy assessment by SPECT


Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi. 2013 Sep;33(9):1196-8.
Gao Z, Hu S, Wang ZJ, Chen Q, Jia SW.

Source

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Guangdong 518036, China.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture combined single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in treating coronary heart disease (CHD) and its effect on the myocardial ischemia/perfusion and the recovery of heart functions.

METHODS:

Totally fifty-nine patients with confirmed CHD were randomly assigned to two groups, the acupuncture group (32 cases) and the nitroglycerine group (27 cases). Patients in the acupuncture group were electro-acupunctured at bilateral Neiguan (PC6) and Xinshu (BL15) for 30 min with the frequency of 2/15 Hz and the current strength 9 - 18 mA after myocardial imaging induced by routine exercises or drug load. 99mTc-MIBI 370 MBq was injected 15 min after needling. The myocardial perfusion imaging was performed immediately after needling. 99mTc-MIBI740 MBq was injected to those in the nitroglycerine group during routine exercises or drug load. The myocardial perfusion imaging was performed 5 min after injection. Patients were asked to sublingual administration of nitroglycerine 1 mg after the myocardial perfusion imaging was completed. 99mTc-MIBI 370 MBq was intravenously injected 5 min later, and myocardial perfusion imaging was performed 5 min after injection.

RESULTS:

There was statistical difference in changes of radioactive uptake between before and after treatment in the two groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Both acupuncture and buccal administration of nitroglycerine could increase the blood perfusion of ischemic myocardium. But there was no statistical difference in the improvement of ischemic myocardial cells (t = 1.57, P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION:

Using SPECT could clearly display therapeutic effects of acupuncture on CHD, thus providing a new visible research method for CHD studies.

No comments:

Post a Comment