Effect of Acupuncture and Moxibustion plus Zushima on Serum VEGF and bF GF in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis / 上海针灸杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion plus Zushima on serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (b FGF) in patients with knee osteoarthritis.Method Two hundred and thirty-six patients with knee osteoarthritis were allocated, using a random number table, to two groups, 118 cases each. The control group was treated with Celecoxib and the observation group, with acupuncture and moxibustion plus Zushima. The therapeutic effects, and pre-treatment and post-treatment VAS scores and WOMAC scores and serum VEGF and bFGF levels were compared between the two groups of patients. The adverse reaction incidences were compared between the two groups of patients. Result The total efficacy rate was 87.3％ in the control group and 94.9％ in the observation group and was significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). There were no statistically significant pre-treatment differences in the VAS score and WOMAC score between the two groups (P>0.05). The VAS score and WOMAC score decreased significantly in both groups after treatment (P<0.05). After treatment, there was no statistically significant difference in the VAS score between the two groups (P>0.05) but the WOMAC score was significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). There were no statistically significant pre-treatment differences in VEGF and bFGF between the two groups (P>0.05). After treatment, VEGF and bFGF decreased significantly in both groups (P<0.05) and were significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). The adverse reaction incidence was3.4％ in the control group and 1.7％ in the observation group with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P> 0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture and moxibustion plus Zushima can reduce inflammatory reactions, inhibit synovial angiogenesis, and effectively relive the pain, and improve articular functions in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.