Clinical experience of acupuncture treatment for a patient with stomach pain and feeling of fullness / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

[Introduction] Acupuncture has been used in patients with functional digestive symptoms. Acupuncture treatment was used on a patient with upper stomach pain and feeling of fullness accompanied by pain in knee, neck and shoulders. Details of the clinical experience have been written in this brief report and shows improvement in gastric symptoms and increase of normogastria in gastric electrical activities by acupuncture treatment.[Case] A 73 year-old female patient, who was 148 cm tall and 51 kg in weight, complained of some chronic pain at the first medical examination. However, in the 24th treatment, the patient complained of severe stomach pain and feeling of fullness accompanied by 36 points on the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS). Therefore, electrogastrograms (EGG) were recorded, as a noninvasive clinical evaluation of gastric function, at 15 minutes before and after the 30th treatment for 10 minutes using the retaining needle technique at bilateral ST36 andST40.[Result] The decrease of GSRS showed improvement of gastric symptoms by acupuncture treatment. After treatment, the percentage of normogastria in EGG increased to 71% from 58%, thus stabilizing theincrease in power spectra.[Discussion] It has been suggested that the increase of nomogastria in EGGs show an improvement of gastric symptoms. Moreover, the patient was told about the positive changes in EGG by an acupuncturist, and explaining that the acupuncture treatment seemed to improve clinical symptoms. Thus, acupuncture treatment contributed to an improvement of symptoms in a patient with stomach pain and feeling of fullness.[Conclusion] Acupuncture treatment induced an increase in percentage of normogastria in EGG power and resulted in an improvement in gastric symptoms of a patient with upper stomach pain and feeling of fullness.

A successful case of decreasing the frequency of premature ventricular contraction only by acupuncture / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

[Objective] Premature ventricular contraction (PVC) causes arrhythmia, and it most frequently occurs in healthy individuals. It has been recently reported that a combination of medical therapy and acupuncture has an effect on arrhythmia. Herein, we report on the use of acupuncture in a patient with PVC.[Case] A 41-year-old male complained of arrhythmia and stiff shoulders. According to the Lown grading system, he was diagnosed with a grade 1 condition using Holter monitor in a hospital for internal diseases. Acupuncture was applied for decreasing the PVC count and discomfort in the chest region.[Methods] Acupuncture was applied at points PC6, BL15, HT7, ST36, GV20, CV17, and KI3. Manipulation involved twirling the stemless needle (30 mm in length, 0.20 mm in diameter) at a low amplitude and high frequency, and the needle was then retained for 10 min. The treatment was applied twice a day for four weeks. Measurements were obtained using a visual analog scale, SF-36v2, and Holter monitor.[Results] After four weeks of treatment, discomfort in the chest region decreased and quality of life improved. Additionally, the PVC count decreased after two weeks of treatment.[Conclusion] Our findings suggest that acupuncture is effective for treatment of PVC.

Effect of 100 Hz electroacupuncture on salivary immunoglobulin A and the autonomic nervous system.

BACKGROUND: A previous study has reported that low-frequency (LF) electroacupuncture (EA) influences salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is known to control the secretion volume of sIgA; however, the effect of high-frequency (HF) EA on salivary sIgA has not been determined. We investigated whether HF EA affects salivary sIgA levels and the ANS. METHOD: Sixteen healthy subjects were randomly classified into two groups: a control group and an EA group. After a 5 min rest, subjects in the EA group received EA at 100 Hz bilaterally at LI4 and LI11 for 15 min before resting for a further 40 min post-stimulation. Subjects in the control group rested for a total of 60 min. Measurements of the ANS and sIgA levels in both groups were made before, immediately after, 20 min after, and 40 min after rest or 15 min EA treatment. HF and LF components of heart rate variability were analysed as markers of ANS function. LF/HF ratio and HF were taken as indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activity, respectively. Salivary protein concentrations and sIgA levels were determined by Bradford protein assay and ELISA, respectively. RESULTS: LF/HF ratio was significantly increased immediately after EA. HF was significantly increased at 20 min after EA and sIgA level was significantly increased at 40 min after EA. In addition, HF and salivary sIgA level were positively correlated with each another. CONCLUSIONS: HF EA exerted sequential positive effects on sympathetic nerve activity, parasympathetic nerve activity, and salivary sIgA level (immediately and after 20 and 40 min, respectively). HF EA may increase salivary sIgA levels by influencing parasympathetic nerve activity.