Clinical Study on Acupuncture at Bilateral Sphenopalatine Ganglions for Allergic Rhinitis / 中国中医药信息杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To obsevre the clinical efficacy of acupuncture at bilateral sphenopalatine ganglions in treating allergic rhinitis. Methods Patients with allergic rhinitis were selected, and then were randomly divided into bilateral group, unilateral group, and control group, with 35 cases in each group. By the end of the study, 5 cases of bilateral group, 3 cases of unilateral group, and 2 cases of control group were removed. The bilateral sphenopalatine ganglions were acupunctured simultaneously in bilateral group, and the unilateral sphenopalatine ganglion was treated by acupuncture in unilateral group, once a week, for 4 weeks. The control group received routine acupuncture on Yingxiang (LI20), Bitong (EX-HN8), Yintang (EX-HN3), and Hegu (LI4), twice a week, for 4 weeks. Rhinitis symptom scale and life quality of nasal conjunctival scale score before and after treatment in the three groups were observed. The clinical efficacy was evaluated and the adverse reactions were recorded. Results The total effective rates of bilateral group, unilateral group and control group were 93.33% (28/30), 90.63% (29/32) and 72.73% (24/33), respectively, and the bilateral group and unilateral group were better than the control group (χ2=19.507, P=0.001), without statistical significance between bilateral group and unilateral group (P>0.05). Rhinitis symptoms and life quality were improved in the three groups (P0.05). Only 1 case of subcutaneous hematoma showed in unilateral group. Conclusion Acupuncture at sphenopalatine ganglions has confirmed efficacy, and there is no difference in the efficacy between acupuncture on bilateral sphenopalatine ganglions and unilateral sphenopalatine ganglion.