RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare clinical therapeutic effect of surrounded needling therapy and medication on acute gouty arthritis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty cases of acute gouty arthritis were randomly divided into a surrounded needling therapy group and a western medicine group, 30 cases in each group. The surrounded needling therapy group was treated with shallow needling on local affected area as main and 4-5 distant acupoints as adjuvant, once each day; the western medicine group was treated with oral administration of Indomethacin and Allopurinol, thrice each day. They were treated for 15 days. The clinical therapeutic effects, the changes of serum uric acid content and the adverse reaction were observed in the two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rate was 93.3% in the surrounded needling therapy group and 80.0% in the western medicine group, with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.01); the serum uric acid contents before and after treatment were (516.85 +/- 48.63) micromol/L and (293.77 +/- 68.45) micromol/L in the surrounded needling therapy group, and (509.66 +/- 51.11) micromol/L and (333.66 +/- 89.22) mciromol/L in the western medicine group, respectively, with significant differences before and after treatment in the two groups (both P < 0.05), and with a significant difference in the serum uric acid content after treatment between the two groups (P < 0.01). The surrounded needling therapy group had no adverse reaction, and the adverse reaction rate of the western medicine group was 46.7%, with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Surrounded needling therapy is superior to the western medicine in the therapeutic effect on acute gouty arthritis, and it is a safe and effective method for acute gouty arthritis.</p>