Topical halometasone cream combined with fire needle pretreatment for treatment of primary cutaneous amyloidosis:Two case reports

BACKGROUND Primary cutaneous amyloidosis(PCA)is a chronic metabolic skin disease that has a detrimental impact on physical and mental health.It appears as mossy papules and severe itching,which is long-term and recurrent.Traditional treatments are unsatisfactory,especially for refractory cases.Fire needle therapy,which is widely used in China,has shown good clinical efficacy,as well as advantages concerning safety and cost.Clinical reports about fire needle treatment of this disease are few at present.CASE SUMMARY We report two older men who had developed maculopapules with itchiness on the trunk and arms for more than 10-15 years.Due to the dermatopathological findings,PCA was our primary consideration.They received topical halometasone cream and pretreatment with fire needle for 8-16 wk.Both patients showed significant improvement of lesions.Neither patient had recurrence with a minimum of 2 years of follow-up.CONCLUSION Topical halometasone cream and pretreatment with fire needle could be a fast,safe,and economic treatment for PCA.

Surrounding Needling with Fire Needle and Filiform Needle Plus Moxibustion in the Treatment of Lower Limb Herpes Zoster:One Case Report

Introduction Herpes zoster is a skin disease caused by activation of the varicella zoster virus,which is latent in neurons.It can be accompanied by severe neuralgia.Some herpes zoster patients may have pain allergy,general discomfort,loss of appetite and other prodromal symptoms,typical clinical manifestation as a cluster of blisters distribution along unilateral peripheral nerve,often accompanied by obvious neuralgia[1].

Clinical study on fire needle acupuncture treating irregular menstruation with spleen deficiency syndrome

Objective:To observe the clinical efficacy of fire needle acupuncture in treating irregular menstruation with spleen deficiency syndrome.Methods:60 patients with spleen deficiency-irregular menstruation were randomly divided into treatment group and control group of 30 each.In the treatment group,fire needle acupuncture was used to insert into Guanyuan,Qihai,Pishu,Sanyinjiao,Zusanli and Taibai points,while the filiform needle was used to needle the corresponding acupoints in the control group.After 8 weeks of treatment,menstrual cycle,menstrual period,menstrual volume,irregular menstrual symptom score and spleen deficiency symptom score were recorded.Results:Both treatments could effectively improve the menstrual cycle,menstrual period and menstrual volume,but there was no statistical significance between the two groups(P>0.05).Both treatments were effective in regulating the symptoms of menstruation,and fire needle acupuncture was better than filiform needle(P<0.05).Both treatments relieved the symptoms of spleen deficiency,and fire needle acupuncture was better than filiform needle(P<0.05).In terms of overall curative effect,the curative effect of fire needle acupuncture therapy was significantly better than filiform needle therapy,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:Fire needle acupuncture therapy could effectively regulate menstrual volume of patients with irregular menstruation of spleen deficiency syndrome,and relieve the symptoms of traditional Chinese medicine.

Clinical Research Progress of Fire Needle Acupuncture in the Treatment of Alopecia Areata

Alopecia areata is a common disease in dermatology.It is a localized non-inflammatory alopecia that occurs in the head.Its etiology is unclear,but it is thought to be related to a number of factors.At present,there are many methods of treatment with different curative effects.Fire needle acupuncture directly acts on skin lesions,dredges meridians,and regulates Qi and blood.It has a good curative effect.This paper reviews current research progress of fire acupuncture in the treatment of alopecia areata,in order to provide some diagnostic and treatment suggestions for the management of alopecia areata.

Efficacy of fire needle on acute gouty arthritis induced by monosodium urate in rats

OBJECTIVE:To explore the therapeutic effect and inflammatory mechanism of fire needles on gouty arthritis.METHODS:Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups,that is,control group,the model group,the colchicine group,and the fire needle treatment group.Acute gouty arthritis was prepared by injection of monosodium urate in the ankle joint.The inflammation-related protein[toll-like receptor 4(TLR4),pyrin domain-containing protein 3(NLRP3),interleukin(IL)-1β,myeloid differentiation factor 88(My D88),nuclear factorkappa B(NF-κB),phosphorylated NF-κB(p-NF-κB),caspase-1,and p-caspase-1]in swollen tissues,the inflammation-related m RNAs indicators(TLR4,NLRP3,NF-κB,and caspase-1)and the inflammatory factors[IL-1β,IL-6,IL-8,tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),and C-reactive protein(CRP)]in the serum were detected by Western blot,real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction,and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,respectively.RESULTS:The fire needle treatment could reduce joint swelling,increase mechanical pain threshold and decrease the inflammation index score in the fire needle treatment group.It could also significantly decreased the protein expression of IL-1β,TLR4,My D88,p-NF-κB and NLRP3 in joint tissue,markedly downregulated the m RNA levels of TLR4 and NLRP3 in joint tissue,and significantly reduce serum levels of IL-1β,IL-6,IL-8,TNF-α,and CRP.CONCLUSION:The fire needle treatment had positive effect of treating gouty arthritis,and its underlying mechanism might be associated with NF-κB activation and related inflammatory response.

Systematic review of the therapeutic effect of fire acupuncture on psoriasis vulgaris based on"releasing stagnated fire"theory

Background:To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of fire acupuncture(or needle)in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris.Methods:The following electronic databases were retrieved by calculator:PubMed,Embase,Cochrane Library,CNKI,Wanfang Academic Journal Database,VIP Chinese Journal Database,etc.All the randomized controlled trials using fire needles in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris from the self-established database to August 2021 were included,and the qualified literatures were included.Review manager 5.3 software was used for the combined analysis of the included literatures,TSA v0.9 Beta for sequential analysis,and GRADE pro V3.6 for evidence quality evaluation.Results:A total of 14 studies with 1,440 patients were included in this study.Meta analysis results showed:effective rate[RR=1.15,95%CI(1.10,1.19),P<0.00001,very low quality evidence];Psoriasis Area and Severity Index[PASI score,WMD=-2.15,95%CI(-2.40,-1.90),P<0.00001,evidence of low quality],Dermatology Life Quality Index scale[DLQI score,WMD=-3.56,95%CI(-4.86,-2.26),P<0.00001,very low quality evidence],the experimental group was better than the control group(P<0.05).Sequential analysis further showed that the use of fire needle as the primary treatment could significantly reduce PASI score.The adverse reactions rate of the experimental group was 6%,and that of the control group was 11%,P<0.05.Conclusion:Fire acupuncture as the main treatment can reduce PASI and QLDI scores of patients with psoriasis vulgaris,improve the treatment efficiency,and fewer adverse reactions.

Clinical Experience in the Treatment of Vitiligo by the Method of Invigorating Qi,Promoting Blood Circulation and Detoxification

Studies have shown that traditional Chinese medicines have clear curative effects in the treatment of vitiligo with few side effects.Through literature research and clinical observation,the study summarized the etiology and pathogenesis of vitiligo in traditional Chinese medicine as"deficiency,toxin,and stasis",formulated the method of invigorating qi,promoting blood circulation and detoxification,and prescribed Fuse Hexue Jiawei Decoction for the treatment of vitiligo.

火针对比西药治疗痛风性关节炎血尿酸及关节功能影响Meta分析及试验序贯分析

Objective:To conduct the meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis(TSA) on clinical trials of fire needling therapy in treatment of gouty arthritis and review systematically the clinical therapeutic effect of fire needling therapy on gouty arthritis so as to provide the medical evidences of the extensive application of this therapy in treatment of gouty arthritis.Methods:The relevant clinical trials of fire needling therapy for treatment of gouty arthritis were searched from China National knowledge Infrastructure,Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform,Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database,American Medical Online,Dutch Medical Literature Database and International Evidence-Based Medical library.Using Review Manager 5.3 software,the quality of the included trials was assessed and meta-analysis was performed.With TSA v0.9 software,the trial sequential analysis was conduced on the appropriate outcomes.Results:A total of 10 trials were included with 775 patients involved.The analysis results showed that compared with the western medication,the total effective rate(RR=1.14’95%CI [1.09,1.20]),the curative rate(RR=1.59’95%CI [1.33,1.89]),the reduced VAS score(MD=-1.44’ 95%CI [-1.93,-0.951]) and the reduced incidence of adverse reaction(RR=0.27’ 95% CI [0.09,0.76]) of the fire needling therapy were different significantly(all P <0.05).Regarding the reduction of blood uric acid(MD=-40.47’ 95%CI [-80.21,-0.72]) and the score of symptoms and physical signs(MD=-1.38’95% CI [-3.71,0.95]),the effect of fire needling therapy was similar to that of western medication group(both P≥0.05).The trial sequential analysis suggested that the result was reliable,in which,the total effective rate of fire needling therapy was much higher than the western medication.But,it was potentially a false-positive finding,in which,fire needling therapy was much more advantageous at reducing blood uric acid as compared with the western medication.Conclusion:Based on the analytic results,it can be determined that fire needling therapy,as an effective approach to the treatment of gouty arthritis,has a certain advantage as compared with western medication.Given the low overall quality of trials,it still needs high-quality clinical trial to verify the findings of this study results.