Clinical Study on the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis of Shen(肾)-Sui(髓) Insufficiency Syndrome Type by Electroacupuncture

作者：吴明霞; 李西海; 林木南; 贾希瑞; 沐榕; 万文蓉; 陈瑞华; 陈丽华; 林万庆; 黄聪阳; 张学如; 洪昆达; 李俐; 刘献祥

来源：Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, 2010, (04): 291-297.

• osteoarthritis
• electroacupuncture
• clinical effectiveness
• cytokine

<正>Objective:To study the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture（EA）on treating knee osteoarthritis （KOA）of Shen（肾）-Sui（髓）insufficiency（SSI）syndrome type.Methods:A total of 245 patients（279 knees）of KOA-SSI were randomly assigned to two groups by lottery:141 knees in the treatment group and 138 knees in the control group.The treatment group was managed with EA at the dominant points of Neixiyan（Ex-LE4） and Waixiyan（Ex-LE5）as well as the conjugate points of Xuanzhong（GB39）and Taixi（KI3）for 30 min,once a day,with 15 days as one course;2 courses were applied with a 5-day interval in between.The control group was treated with intra-articular injection of 2 mL hyaluronic acid into the affected joint every 7 days for 5 times in total.The clinical effects on the patients in different stages were observed,and their symptom scores of knee and contents of cytokines,including interleukin-1（IL-1）,interleukin-6（IL-6）,tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α）, prostaglandin E2α(PGE2αand matrix metalloproteinases-3（MMP-3）,in the knee joint fluid were measured before and after treatment.Results:The study was completed in 235 patients（263 knees）;four patients（7 knees） in the treatment group and six patients（9 knees）in the control group dropped out.Comparison of therapeutic effects（excellent and effective rates）between the two groups showed insignificant differences（P>0.05）. Symptom scores of knee and contents of cytokines in the knee fluid after treatment were lowered significantly in the patients of stageⅠ-Ⅲin both groups（P<0.05 or P<0.01）.However,the lowering of the total symptom score of knee in the patients of stageⅢin the treatment group was more significant（P<0.05）.Conclusions:EA could effectively alleviate the clinical symptoms in KOA patients of stage 1,showing an effect superior to that of hyaluronic acid.EA also shows action in suppressing the secretion of IL-1,IL-6,TNF-α,PGE2αand MMP-3 in the knee fluid.