Clinical study of warm needling moxibustion combined with entecavir in the treatment of compensated cirrhosis due to chronic hepatitis B / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and possible mechanism of action of warm needling moxibustion combined with entecavir in the treatment of compensated cirrhosis due to chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Methods: Ninety patients were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, with 45 patients in each group. The control group was given oral entecavir, and the observation group was given additional warm needling moxibustion. The serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), albumin (ALB) levels, portal vein internal diameter, splenic vein internal diameter, spleen thickness, and liver hardness were compared before and after treatment. The serum hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), procollagen type Ⅲ (PCⅢ), type Ⅳ collagen (Ⅳ-C), interleukin (IL)-21, and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) levels were also measured. Results: After treatment, the serum ALT and AST levels decreased (P<0.05), and the serum ALB levels increased (P<0.05) in both groups. The serum ALT and AST levels were lower in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05), and the ALB level was higher in the observation group (P<0.05). The portal vein internal diameter, splenic vein internal diameter, spleen thickness, and liver hardness values were reduced in both groups after treatment (P<0.05), and were lower in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). The serum HA, LN, PCⅢ, and Ⅳ-C levels were reduced in both groups (P<0.05), and were lower in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.05). In the control group, the serum IL-21 level decreased (P<0.05), but the serum PDGF level did not change significantly (P>0.05); in the observation group, the serum IL-21 and PDGF levels decreased significantly (P<0.05) and were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Warm needling moxibustion combined with entecavir treatment can improve liver function, reduce the inner diameters of the portal vein and splenic vein, spleen thickness, and liver hardness, and improve liver fibrosis indicators in patients with CHB cirrhosis, which may be related to the reduction of serum IL-21 and PDGF levels.