ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Through comparing the literature on the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for anxiety in Chinese and English versions, the participants, the interventions and the outcomes of the therapeutic effect evaluation in acupuncture treatment for anxiety were analyzed so as to provide the references to the high quality clinical research in the future.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The literature was retrieved on RCTs of acupuncture for anxiety at home and abroad. According to the principles and the methods of the evidence-based medicine, the information on the type of clinical research, participants, interventions and outcomes was extracted and analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 106 valid papers of the Chinese and English versions were collected. In the study at home and abroad, the concepts and recognitions were indistinct among anxiety disorder, anxious emotion and secondary anxiety disorder. The diagnostic criteria were different. Regarding the intervention, the body acupuncture was predominated in the study at home and abroad, focusing on the mind regulation. The acupoints were mainly selected for tranquilizing the mind, promoting the circulation of the governor vessel and removing irritability. Additionally, the auricular acupuncture was often adopted in the treatment of anxious emotion in foreign countries. Regarding the outcomes in the effect evaluation, the scales were not so standardized in the selection and application. The analysis was limited on the factors of the anxiety scales and the survival quality.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There are the differences in the diagnostic criteria, participant inclusion, intervention and outcomes in the clinical research of anxiety treated with acupuncture at home and abroad. A rigorous design is required in the high quality clinical research for the evaluation on the therapeutic effects of acupuncture on anxiety.</p>
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To judge whether algesia sensitization of some acupoints is existed and whether the acupoint algesia sensitization area is expanded in the patients of intestinal cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally, 30 patients of intestinal cancer and 30 healthy subjects were included. The electronic Von Fray was used to determine the pressure-pain thresholds at 13 acupoints relevant with gastrointestinal disorders and the reference points at the sites 1and 2lateral to those points as well as the sites at the corresponding nerve segments. Compared with the pressure-pain thresholds at the reference points of the different segments, the relative value was calculated. The changes were analyzed in the pressure-pain thresholds at the relevant acupoints on the body surface in the patients of intestinal cancer as compared with the relative pressure-pain thresholds in the healthy volunteers.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The pressure-pain thresholds at Zusanli (ST 36), Shangjuxu (ST 37), Xiajuxu (ST 39), Quchi (LI 11) and Dachangshu (BL 25) in the patients of intestinal cancer were all significantly reduced as compared with those of the healthy subjects (<0.05,<0.01,<0.001). At the non-acupoint sites 1and 2lateral to those acupoints as well as at the sites of the same segments, the pressure-pain thresholds were reduced significantly as compared with the control group (<0.05,<0.01,<0.001). Particularly, the sensitization zone of Yinlingquan (SP 9) focused on the acupoint, the site 1lateral to it as well as the non-acupoint sites of the same segments (<0.01,<0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The acupoint sensitization is displayed at Zusanli (ST 36), Shangjuxu (ST 37), Xiajuxu (ST 39), Quchi (LI 11), Dachangshu (BL 25) and Yinlingquan (SP 9) and the sensitization area is expended in the patients of intestinal cancer.</p>