Acupuncture Treatment for Threatened Abortion.

Background: Threatened abortion, also known as threatened miscarriage, is a common complication in pregnant women; it seriously harms their physical and mental health. However, there are only a few reports on acupuncture treatment to address threatened abortion. Case: A woman had a threatened abortion. She experienced vaginal bleeding and had an intrauterine hematoma after embryo transfer. She declined medication use because of concerns about the adverse effects to the embryo. Therefore, acupuncture treatment was performed to relieve her pain and save the fetus. Results: After the 4th treatment, her vaginal bleeding stopped, and her uterine effusion was reduced to 27 × 22 mm. After the 11th treatment, the uterine effusion decreased even more-to 40 × 7 mm-and disappeared completely after the 16th treatment. No adverse events occurred during her treatment, and her bleeding and uterine effusion did not recur. The fetus developed normally, and the child was born. This child is currently healthy and growing. Conclusions: By stimulating the body's acupoints, acupuncture can be used to adjust the Qi and Blood, and consolidate Extraordinary Vessels, mainly in Chong and Ren, to prevent miscarriage. This case report provided information about the treatment of a threatened abortion and illustrated how acupuncture was be used to stop a threatened abortion. This report can be utilized to support high-quality randomized controlled trials. Given that there is a lack of standardized and safe procedures for treating threatened abortion by using acupuncture, this research is needed.

Brain-Imaging Mechanisms on Female Abdominal Obesity Treated by "Shu-Mu" Acupoint Catgut Embedding and Compatibility Relation: Study Protocol for a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) has been proven to be effective and safe in the treatment of obesity, but few studies have been conducted involving its central mechanisms. Our previous study has demonstrated the effectiveness of Shu-Mu ACE in the treatment of abdominal obesity (AO). However, the neurological mechanism of Shu-Mu ACE for weight loss has not yet been elucidated. The mechanism of the combination of the Shu and Mu acupoints may be related to the central integrative effects of the brain. This paper aims to explore the potential neural mechanisms of Shu-Mu ACE in female patients with AO. Methods and Analysis: A total of 100 eligible female AO patients and 20 healthy female subjects will be recruited for this study. 100 AO patients will be randomly allocated to five groups: Shu-Mu ACE (Group A), Shu ACE (Group B), Mu ACE (Group C), sham ACE (Group D), and waiting-list (Group E). Treatment will be administrated once every two weeks for 12 weeks. The body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), Visual Analog Scales (VAS) of appetite, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) will be utilized to evaluate the clinical efficacy. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline and at each time point of treatment. Multimodal MRI will be performed at baseline and after 12-week treatment and the results will be used to investigate the neural mechanisms of ACE for obesity. Neurological changes and clinical data will be analysed for correlation. Discussions: This study hypothesized that Shu-Mu ACE therapy has a synergistic effect and may treat AO by modulating the neuropathological alterations in the brain. Our findings will demonstrate the neurological mechanism of AO treated by "Shu-Mu" Acupoint Catgut Embedding and compatibility relation. Trial Registration: This trial is registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registration Center (No. ChiCTR2100048920).

Efficacy of contralateral acupuncture in women with migraine without aura: protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Migraine is a common neurological disorder with a higher prevalence occurring in women. Migraine without aura (MwoA) is the most common type of migraine. In recent years, the safety and effectiveness of acupuncture for migraines have been internationally recognised. Contralateral acupuncture (CAT) (Jùcì) is an ancient classic acupuncture technique from Huang Di Nei Jing that refers to the acupoints on the right side (healthy side) selected for diseases on the left (affected side) and vice versa. Some studies have shown that efficacy of CAT on the painful disorder is even better than ipsilateral acupuncture (IAT), but there remains a lack of high-quality evidence to support it. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a single-centre, randomised and sham-controlled clinical trial in China with three parallel groups that aim to evaluate the efficacy of CAT in women with unilateral MwoA. 243 participants will be randomly divided into the experimental group (CAT group), control group 1 (IAT group) and control group 2 (sham acupuncture group) (1:1:1 allocation ratio). Each group will be given 30-minute treatment sessions, once every other day, approximately three times per week, for a total of 24 treatments and follow-up visits two times. The primary outcome is the changes in days of migraine attacks. The secondary outcomes are frequency of migraine attacks, intensity of migraine, migraine duration, the dose of intake of acute medication, the Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Migraine Disability Assessment Score, the Headache Impact Test-6 and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The data will be collected at the baseline time (week 0), end of treatment (week 4-8) and the follow-up time (week 12-16). Adverse events will be collected and recorded during each treatment. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Sports Trauma Specialist Hospital of Yunnan Province (2021-01). All participants will provide written informed consent before randomisation. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Chinese Clinical Trial Registration Center (ChiCTR2100051479).

Acupuncture for perimenopausal depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.

BACKGROUND: Perimenopausal depressive disorder (PDD) is a disease that plagues many perimenopausal women. There is an urgent need for a safe way to treat the disease. With few side effects, acupuncture treatment for PDD has been gradually accepted. However, at present, the evidence is insufficient and relevant studies are not in-depth enough. The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for PDD. METHODS: All randomized controlled trials articles on acupuncture treatment of PDD will be searched in databases such as MEDLINE, EBASE, Cochrane Library, Springer, World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database and so on. Non-RCT articles will be screened and key information will be extracted. The primary outcome is the Hamilton depression scale. Second outcomes are the Hamilton anxiety scale, Quality of life scale, changes of symptoms in traditional Chinese medicine and hormone levels. RESULTS: This systematic review will provide the highest level of evidence and provide an evaluation of the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for PDD. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence for evaluating the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of PDD. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018115811.