Safety Study Of Fire Needle Treatment At The Baliao Acupoint In Patients With Malignant Tumor

Objective:Fire needle therapy is a unique treatment method in acupuncture therapy,which has many applicable diseases in clinic.Professor Huang in the clinical treatment of malignant tumors,some related symptoms of pelvic malignant tumors are often treated with fire acupuncture at Baliao acupoints,which can achieve better results.However,at present,there is no systematic study on the safety of fire needle therapy.on the other hand,because there are rich nerves and blood vessels in Baliao acupoint,so there is some uncertainty about its clinical safety when using fire needle to treat Baliao acupoint.Based on this situation,this study searched the Chinese and English databases,systematically evaluated the application status of fire needle therapy in different diseases and reports of adverse reactions,and through a retrospective case series study,to explore the safety of fire needle Baliao acupoint in the treatment of malignant tumor patients,in order to provide evidence support for clinical decision-making.Methods:(1)The clinical studies on fire needle therapy published in 7 Chinese and English databases,including CNKI,PubMed,Cochrane,WOS(Web of Science),SinoMed,VIP and WanFang Data,were searched.According to the study of safety outcomes reported in the inclusion exclusion criteria screening study,the relevant data were extracted and analyzed by Stata17.0 software,and the report status of safety outcomes of fire needle therapy in different diseases was summarized.(2)collected patients with malignant tumor who were treated with fire needle acupuncture at Baliao point from January 2022 to December 2022,analyzed and compared the demographic characteristics and fire needle treatment plan of the patients,and obtained the occurrence of adverse reactions,subjective adverse reaction report and activity of daily living score(ADL)after treatment by referring to electronic medical records and telephone return visit.Results:(1)In the literature study,the top three diseases of clinical application frequency of fire needle therapy were classified as skin diseases(350 items,50.29%),infectious diseases(129 items,18.53%),musculoskeletal system or connective tissue diseases(111 items,15.95%).Among the top three reports of fire needle-related adverse reactions,68 studies reported pain caused by fire needles with a total of 485 person-times,56 studies reported itching with a total of 294 person-times,and 41 studies reported local inflammatory reactions with a total of 127 person-times.(2)The clinical study included 46 patients with malignant tumors.8 cases(17.39%)reported adverse reactions related to fire needle therapy,of which 6.52%were pain,6.52%were persistent itching,and 4.35%were local erythema after local redness and scab peeling off.A small amount of bleeding accounted for 2.17%,and there was no local infection.Most of the adverse reactions were mild and did not seriously affect the daily life and followup treatment of the patients.Eight patients reported subjective adverse events,of which fatigue was the most common adverse event(13.04%),followed by pain and itching(6.52%).Insomnia and muscle distension accounted for 6.67%and 2.17%,respectively.Although the effects of these adverse events were different,they did not have a serious impact on the daily life and follow-up treatment of patients.Most of the adverse reactions were mild and did not seriously affect the daily life and follow-up treatment of the patients.The ADL scores of all patients decreased,and there were no symptoms of sacral nerve damage such as fecal dysfunction and sexual dysfunction.Conclusion:(1)The publication rate of clinical studies on fire needle therapy is increasing year by year,indicating that the attention of clinical physicians to fire needle therapy is constantly increasing.This study comprehensively analyzed the commonly used diseases treated with fire needle therapy and the commonly observed adverse reactions after treatment,and found that the incidence of adverse reactions in clinical practice was low,mostly mild to moderate adverse reactions,and most adverse reactions could recover without treatment,indicating a high level of safety.However,there is currently no unified evaluation scale for the safety of fire needle therapy reports,and most research reports have low quality and do not place emphasis on reporting safety outcomes.There is also a lack of corresponding explanations for the causal relationship of adverse reactions caused by fire needle therapy,so in the future,more highquality research evidence is needed for further confirmation of its safety.(2)Retrospective case series studies have shown that in 46 patients with malignant tumors who received fire needle therapy at the Baliao acupuncture points,reported adverse reactions were all mild or moderate,without any serious adverse reactions,and they could recover within a period of time without affecting subsequent treatment.The most common subjective adverse reaction reported by patients was fatigue,which may be because fire needle therapy has a strong warming and promoting effect that can promote the circulation of qi and blood,and increase the dredging force of qi and blood from other parts to the local area.However,in the treatment of Baliao acupuncture points with fire needles,the needling is deeper and the stimulation is greater,and patients with malignant tumors have undergone a long-term treatment process,which results in greater psychological pressure,leading to fear and anxiety towards treatment,which can also affect the distribution of qi and blood in the body and result in fatigue and discomfort symptoms.In addition,none of the 46 patients showed symptoms related to sacral nerve damage,and the ADL scores were stable or improved,indicating a high level of safety for fire needle therapy at the Baliao acupuncture points.