Effectiveness of bee venom acupuncture for patients suffering from periarthritis humeroscapularis

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the efficacy of bee venom acupuncture in humeroscapularis(PHS)patients.METHODS:One hundred and twenty patients diagnosed with PHS were assigned into four groups:BV1(0.01 mg/kg),BV2(0.005 mg/kg),BV3(0.0025 mg/kg),and control group(vitamin B1 plus novocain 3%injection)with 15 d of treatment.The outcomes of the study including visual analogue scale(VAS)score andβ-endorphin,inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-10(IL-10),IL-1βand tumor necrosis factorα(TNF-α)and shoulder function score were assessed at baseline,after 10 and 15 d of treatment.RESULTS:All four groups reported statistically significant improvement in VAS score,motion range,and shoulder function score(P<0.01),only the BV3 group showed significant increase of anti-inflammatory(IL-10)and decrease of pro-inflammatory(IL-1β,TNF-α)cytokines after treatment(P<0.05).The BV3 group presented a significant difference between all outcomes compared to the control and other groups.CONCLUSION:BV3 groups showed better recovery including reduced pain,improved motor function and normalized inflammatory cytokines than current therapy used in Vietnam and other groups.

Effectiveness of bee venom acupuncture in alleviating post-stroke shoulder pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND：Shoulder pain is a common complication of stroke.Bee venom acupuncture（BVA）is increasingly used in the treatment of post-stroke shoulder pain.OBJECTIVE：To summarize and evaluate evidence on the effectiveness of BVA in relieving shoulder pain after stroke.SEARCH STRATEGY：Nine databases,namely MEDLINE,EMBASE,the Cochrane Library,the China National Knowledge Infrastructure（CNKI）,the Japan Science and Technology Information Aggregator,Electronic（J-STAGE）,and four Korean medical databases,namely,the National Assembly Library,the Research Information Service System,the National Discovery for Science Leaders,and OASIS,were searched from their inception through August 2014 without language restrictions.INCLUSION CRITERIA：Randomized controlled trials（RCTs）were included if BVA was used at acupoints as the sole treatment,or as an adjunct to other treatments,for shoulder pain after stroke.DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS：Two review authors independently selected trials for inclusion,assessed methodological quality and extracted data.RESULTS：A total of 138 potentially relevant articles were identifi ed,4 of which were RCTs that met our inclusion criteria.The quality of studies included was generally low,and a preponderance of positive results was demonstrated.All four trials reported favorable effects of BVA on shoulder pain after stroke.Two RCTs assessing the effects of BVA on post-stroke shoulder pain,as opposed to saline injections,were included in the meta-analysis.Pain was signifi cantly lower for BVA than for saline injections（standardized mean difference on 10-cm visual analog scale：1.46 cm,95%CI=0.30–2.62,P=0.02,n=86）CONCLUSION：This review provided evidence suggesting that BVA is effective in relieving shoulder pain after stroke.However,further studies are needed to confi rm the role of BVA in alleviating post-stroke shoulder pain.Future studies should be conducted with large samples and rigorous study designs.