Trigeminal neuralgia of hyperactive of liver yang type treated with acupuncture at Xiaguan (ST 7) at different depth: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the differences of therapeutic effect in primary trigeminal neuralgia (PTN) of hyperactive of liver yang type treated by deep and shallow puncturing at Xiaguan (ST 7).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-three cases of PTN of hyperactive of liver yang type were randomly divided into a deep puncturing group (32 cases) and a shallow puncturing group (31 cases). Xiaguan (ST 7) of affected region, Hegu (LI 4) and Taichong (LV 3) of bilateral sides, Cuanzhu (BL 2), Sibai (ST 2) and Jiachengjiang (Extra) relevant to the affected branch of nerve stem were selected in both groups. In deep puncturing group, Xiaguan (ST 7) was punctured to the depth of spheno-palatine ganglion (SPG); Cuanzhu (BL 2), Sibai (ST 2) and Jiachengjiang (Extra) were respectively punctured to the depth of supraorbital foramen, infraorbital foramen and mental foramen. In shallow group, routine puncturing was applied; the needles were connected with G6805 electric acupuncture apparatus, and switched on for 30 min every time; the treatment was applied every other day. Pain index, traditional Chinese medicine symptoms index and clinical therapeutic effect were observed after 2 courses of treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In deep puncturing group, the VAS scores and the traditional Chinese medicine symptoms scores (pain degree, pain frequency, upsetting, conjunctival congestion, bitter mouth and hypochondriac pain) after treatment were much more lower than those before treatment (all P < 0.01); in shallow puncturing group, except hypochondriac pain (P > 0.05), other indices above after treatment were obviously lower than those before treatment (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). Compared with the indices in both groups after treatment, the VAS scores, the pain degree, conjunctival congestion and total scores of traditional Chinese medicine symptoms in deep puncturing group were more significant (all P < 0.05). The total effective rate was 93.8% (30/32) in deep puncturing group, superior to that of 87.1% (27/31) in shallow puncturing group (P < 0.05). No any adverse reaction was observed in both groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapeutic effect of trigeminal neuralgia of hyperactive of liver yang type treated with electroacupuncture is remarkable, and deep puncturing at Xiaguan(ST 7) to SPG is more effective than routine puncturing.</p>

Observation on therapeutic effect of runmushu oral liquid in treating xerophthalmia in postmenopausal women / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To objectively evaluate the therapeutic effect and safety of Runmushu Oral Liquid (RMS) for the treatment of xerophthalmia in postmenopausal women.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-two postmenopausal women (144 eyes) with xerophthalmia of aqueous tear deficiency type were assigned to two groups. Patients in the treated group were treated with RMS (consisted of prepared and crude rehmannia root, figwort, lilyturf root, dendrobium stem, wolfberry fruit, chrysanthemum and sticktight) orally combining with local applying of Hialid eye drops; while those in the control group were treated with Hialid eye drops alone. Changes of subjective symptoms and objective indices in the two groups were observed and compared before and after 1-month treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After 1 month of treatment, the total effective rate was 86.1% (62/72) in the treated group and 66.7% (48/72) in the control group, showing significant difference between them (P < 0.01). Significant differences between groups were also shown in improvements of total scores of subjective symptoms (P < 0.01), scores of tear film break-up time (BUT) and Schirmer I test, these indices in the treated group were better (P < 0.01). However, the improvement of cornea fluorescin staining scores was insignificant different between groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>RMS with artificial-tears can alleviate the eye symptoms, prolong the BUT, promote the secretion of tears in treating postmenopausal women xerophthalmia, showing a therapeutic effect superior to that by artificial-tears alone.</p>

A survey on treatment of dry eye by traditional chinese medicine and integrative chinese and Western medicine / 中国结合医学杂志

Dry eye is now one of the most common superficial disorders in ophthalmology at home and abroad, and more and more people attach importance to the study. The ideal approach for treatment of dry eye is to normalize the condition by rebuilding the superficial circumstance of the eye, and to make tear film work as well as possible so as to relieve the irritating symptoms in the eye. The authors are making a comprehensive discussion on the methods and curative effects of treating dry eye by traditional Chinese medicine and by integrative Chinese and Western medicine in recent years, so as to introduce the distinctive features of the traditional Chinese medicine and integrative Chinese and Western medicine in this field.