RESUMEN
Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of point Shixuan(Ex-UE11) bloodletting on blood viscosity, and pain and numbness in patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy. Method One hundred patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy were randomized to treatment and control groups. Both groups received conventional acupuncture at Huatuo jiaji(Ex-B2) points. The treatment group received bloodletting therapy in addition. Pain and numbness severity and blood viscosity were recorded before and after treatment. The data were analyzed statistically. Result The pain and numbness, and blood viscosity were improved in both groups of patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, but there were statistically significant differences between the two groups (P<0.01). Conclusion Bloodletting therapy can improve not only the pain and numbness but also blood viscosity in cervical spondylotic radiculopathy. There is a certain correlation between the two.
RESUMEN
Chemotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. It is important to monitor chemotherapeutic efficacy, to find a simple and efficient tool to guide treatment, and to predict the efficacy of treatment in a timely and accurate manner. This study aimed to detect mucin-1 (MUC1)-positive circulating tumor cells and MUC1 protein in the peripheral blood of patients with metastatic breast cancer and to investigate their relationship to chemotherapeutic efficacy. MUC1 mRNA was detected in the peripheral blood of 34 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The positive rates of MUC1 mRNA were 88.2% before chemotherapy and 70.6% after chemotherapy, without a significant difference (P=0.564); MUC1 mRNA expression before chemotherapy had no correlation with treatment effectiveness (P=0.281). The response rate of MUC1 mRNA-negative patients after first-cycle chemotherapy was significantly higher (P=0.009) and the progression-free survival (PFS) was clearly longer than those of MUC1 mRNA-positive patients (P=0.095). MUC1 protein in peripheral blood plasma was detected by an ELISA competitive inhibition assay. The patients with decreased MUC1 protein after chemotherapy had a significantly longer PFS than those with elevated MUC1 protein (P=0.044). These results indicate that the outcomes of MUC1 mRNA-negative patients after chemotherapy are better than those of MUC1 mRNA-positive patients. In addition, patients with decreased expression of MUC1 protein have a better PFS.