RESUMEN
Objective@#To investigate the short- and long-term effects of triple acupuncture at the Qugu acupoint as an adjunctive therapy on type-Ⅲ chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS).@*METHODS@#We equally randomized 90 CP/CPPS patients into a control and a treatment group, both treated with Levofloxacin Mesylate Tablets (0.5 g, tid) + Terazosin Hydrochloride Capsules (2 mg qd) for 4 weeks, while the latter group by triple acupuncture at the Qugu acupoint as an adjunctive therapy twice a week at the same time. Then, we followed up all the patients for 4 weeks, recorded the cases, time and rate of recurrence, obtained the scores in National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI), quality of life (QoL) and Zung Depression Scale (ZDS), and compared them between the two groups of patients.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the controls, the patients of the treatment group showed significantly decreased NIH-CPSI scores in pain (8.6 ± 2.12 vs 6.2 ± 2.25, P <0.05), micturition (5.8 ± 1.22 vs 3.1 ± 1.10, P <0.05), and QoL (6.0 ± 1.33 vs 3.4 ± 1.71, P <0.05) and ZDS score as well (43.9 ± 4.53 vs 33.6 ± 3.20, P <0.01). The recurrence rate was markedly lower while the recurrence time remarkably longer in the treatment than in the control group (15.56 vs 35.56% and ［20.0 ± 2.72］ vs ［12.5 ± 3.47］ d, P <0.05).@*CONCLUSIONS@#As an adjunctive therapy, triple acupuncture at the Qugu acupoint can evidently ameliorate the clinical symptoms, enhance the curative effect of antibacterials, reduce the recurrence rate, and prolong the recurrence time in the treatment of CP/CPPS.