| ObjectiveTo observe and evaluate the clinical effect of Western medicine conventional treatment plus acupuncture combined with Erchen Decoction and Sanziyangqin Decoction treating acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(AECOPD).MethodsWe adopted a prospective cohort study protocol.Patients with AECOPD phlegm obstructing lung syndrome were divided into the control group and the acupuncture group according to the medical institutions where they received treatments.Patients from control group were given conventional western medicine.Whereas the observation group patients were treated with acupuncture at acupoints of Taiyuan,Quchi,Hegu,Zusanli,Fenglong,plus the Erchen decoction combined with Sanziyangqin decoction,on the basis of conventional western medicine treatment.Main evaluation indices included TCM syndrome scales before and after treatment.Secondary evaluation indices comprised of days of hospitalization,total effectiveness of treatment,mMRC scores before and after treatment,wheezing sound score before and after the treatment,oxygenation index and carbon dioxide partial pressure(PaC02)of arterial blood and serum concentration of inflammatory factors.Safety measurements included vital signs,liver and renal functions before and after treatment,and adverse events.Results1 67 patients were eventually included in and went through the clinical trials,including 33 patients in the observation group and 34 in the control group.The two groups showed no statistical difference in age,sex,height,weight,smoking and coughing history,pulmonary function and stable period medication usage,which indicated comparability between the two groups.2 In terms of the 2 main evaluation indices,TCM syndrome scales of both groups were significantly lower than the scales before treatment(P<0.05).The observation group reported more notable relief in cough,expectoration,anorexia,abdominal distension and total score of TCM syndromes compared with the control group(R<0.05).In terms of secondary indicators,17 cases were markedly effective,with 16 effective,in observation group.By comparison,29 cases in control group were ranked effective,with 5 cases ineffective.That contributed to a higher total effective rate in observation group than that in control group(P<0.01).On the other hand,the mMRC scores and wheezing scores in both groups decreased significantly after treatment(P<0.05),but no statistical difference was reported in the post-treatment scores between the two groups.There was no significant difference between the two groups of patients in the days of hospitalization.Moreover,oxygenation index and arterial PaC02 in two groups were significantly improved compared after treatment(P<0.05),while WBC,Neu%,ultra-sensitive C-Reactive Protein(us-CRP)and procalcitonin(PCT)decreased only before treatment,but there was no statistical difference in between.3 As for safety evaluation,two groups of patients reported stable vital signs before and after treatment.Liver and renal function were within normal range during treatment.Respiratory frequency,heart rate of two groups were lower than that before treatment.Moreover,systolic blood pressure,diastolic blood pressure of the control group patients were lower than the other group(P<0.05)while all were within the normal range.ConclusionThis clinical study showed that acupuncture combined with oral administration of Erchen decoction and Sanziyangqin decoction is effective in relieving clinical symptoms of AECOPD patients with the syndrome of phlegm obstructing the lung.Such a treatment demonstrates an advantage in relieving cough,abdominal distension in this type of AECOPD patients,which is potentially beneficial their quality of life.At the same time,the treatment also helps relieving hypoxia in this type of AECOPD patients.Furthermore,this study shows that the combination of acupuncture and herbal medication is safe for clinical use,since no adverse reaction in terms of vital signs and liver and renal function,and few adverse events was reported. |
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