Observation on the efficacy of moxibustion for chronic gastritis and a clinical study of moxibustion’s effects on serum brain-gut peptides / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the efficacy and mechanisms of moxibustion-based treatment of chronic gastritis (CG), and to provide an objective basis for treating CG using moxibustion. Methods:A total of 61 CG patients were divided into an herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion group and a mild-warm moxibustion group. In both treatment groups, bilateral Tianshu (ST 25), Zhongwan (CV 12) and Qihai (CV 6) were selected for moxibustion. Before and after treatment, all the enrolled patients’ gastrointestinal disease-related traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome scores and visual analog scale (VAS) scores were measured, and the changes in the serum levels of the brain-gut peptides ghrelin, somatostatin (SS) and motilin (MTL) were observed. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the clinical efficacy rate (P>0.05). After treatment, the gastrointestinal disease-related TCM syndrome scores and VAS scores were reduced to varying extents in both groups, the intra-group differences were statistically significant (allP<0.01). In both groups, the serum levels of ghrelin and MTL increased and the serum levels of SS decreased after treatment (allP<0.01). And there were no serious adverse events occurred. Conclusion:Both herbal cake-partitioned moxibustion and mild-warm moxibustion are effective for CG; these two therapies exhibited similar therapeutic efficacy of epigastric discomfort or pain. And both the two therapies act to anti-inflammation, promote the recovery of gastric mucosa and improve the gastric motility, which is possibly their crucial action mechanism in treating CD.