ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of fire-needle plus round-sharp-needle acupuncture in treating primary trigeminal neuralgia.Method Sixty-two patients with primary trigeminal neuralgia were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 31 cases in each group. The treatment group was intervened by fire-needle therapy at the trigger points followed by deep needling with round-sharp needle at Xiaguan (ST7), and the distal points Hegu (LI4) and Neiting (ST44) were also treated. The same acupoints were selected in the control group but treated with ordinary needling method. The clinical efficacies were evaluated after 2 treatment courses.Result The total effective rate was 93.5%(29/31) in the treatment group versus 77.4% (24/31) in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).Conclusion Fire-needle plus round-sharp-needle acupuncture is an effective approach in treating primary trigeminal neuralgia.