Application of placebo acupuncture in randomized controlled trials in the past 10 years in foreign countries / 中国针灸

The application of placebo acupuncture in randomized controlled trials in the past 10 years (2004-2014) in foreign countries was systematically reviewed to summarize the design of placebo acupuncture; according to category of diseases, advantages and disadvantages were analyzed to explore an ideal placebo acupuncture set. By retrieval in PubMed, EMBASE and OVID databases, the clinical study literature which met the inclusion criteria was searched, and the category of diseases, design of placebo acupuncture and clinical efficacy were analyzed. Totally 29 articles were included. The pain was the leading disease in category of diseases; the most commonly used application of placebo acupuncture design was telescopiform sliding blunt needle, accounting for 45. 16%; the treatment locations were non-acupoints mostly; in the needling depth, approximately 60. 00% selected non-penetrating needling and 26. 67% selected superficial needling; 28 articles indicated that acupuncture and placebo acupuncture had clinical effects, accounting for 96. 55%; 37. 93% of articles indicated acupuncture was superior to placebo acupuncture and 37. 93% of articles indicated acupuncture was not superior to placebo acupuncture. It is concluded that the design of placebo acupuncture should consider multiple factors, including main symptoms, operability, security, blinding and specific effects, and the objective indices should be selected for outcome evaluation.

Value of magnetic resonance angiography combined with magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography on diagnosis for patients with carcinoma of head of pancreas / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) in the preoperative diagnosis of patients with carcinoma of head of pancreas.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-two patients were examined by MRI, MRCP and MRA. The results were compared with the intraoperative exploration findings and operative procedures.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The MRCP and MRA results of 42 cases demonstrated that peripancreatic tissues and blood vessels were not invaded in 24 cases, while portal vein and superior mesenteric vein were invaded by the tumor in 5 cases, and peripancreatic vessels were infiltrated in 10 cases, and 3 cases were detected with organ metastasis. Thirty-five of forty-two cases were consistent with the intraoperative exploration findings, and the accurate rate was 89.7%. Pancraticoduodenectomy was performed in 28 patients, internal drainage in 11 and interventional therapy in 3 cases. The resection rate was 66.7%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The results of MRCP and MRA could definitely demonstrate the preoperative organ metastasis and peripancreatic organization invasion, especially blood vessel infiltration. So the imaging results played an important role in estimating the level of the process and guiding the treatment.</p>