TITLE: ACUPUNCTURE IN THE TREATMENT OF DEGENERATIVE DISEASES OF THE CEREBRAL CORTEX(RESULTS OF A PRELIMINARY STUDY)

ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: G. Garofano, A. Cortese, M. Cucci
NAME:
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS:
E-MAIL:
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
B-7.
ACUPUNCTURE IN THE TREATMENT OF DEGENERATIVE DISEASES OF THE CEREBRAL CORTEX (RESULTS OF A PRELIMINARY STUDY)
M. Cucci, A. Cortese, G. Garofano

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia and cortical degenerations on a vascular basis mainly affect middle-aged or geriatric individuals and have many characteristics in common. These characteristics include: degenerative evolution of the cerebral cortex, worsening symptomatology affecting at first the psychicism and the superior functions and, subsequently, the motor and vegetative systems. The therapies available so far, psychological and occupational, simply slow down the disease's evolution, while the pharmacological therapies bring about very serious side effects. The aims of our work is to prove the effectiveness of Acupuncture in the treatment of these diseases in a small sample of patients, so as to feel entitles to carry out a large-scale research.
Materials and Methods: Three patients were selected. All of them were aged over 50, suffered from cortical degeneration and weren't subjected to pharmacological therapy. Two of them, treated privately, presented space-time disorientation, generalized anxiety, amnesia, Wernicke's aphasia. The third patient, institutionalized. had been in a condition of absolute psycho-emotional deafferentation and immobility for about 3 years.
The therapeutic strategy adopted involved the Wonderful Vessel YANG KEO, to which the traditional data and the Energetics of the Living Systems ascribe the control of the conscious thinking and of the relational system. The point program therefore included the key points of this meridian (SI3, GB38, B23, K3, B62) and points of high cortical and neuro-muscular action(V60, GB34). The patients underwent a cycle of 10 sessions, lasting about 30 minutes each, on a weekly basis. The two privately treated patients underwent a follow-up cycle of 5 sessions 6 months after the end of the first cycle. Eight-cm-long trimetallic needles having a 0.35-mm diameter were used.
Results: Since the second session, the two privately treated patients have shown a decrease in the anxiety levels and a lengthening of the periods of good space-time orientation. Since the fifth session, a considerable improvement in the speech in terms of organization, intelligibility and pertinence has taken place. This evolution stabilized during the remaining sessions of the first cycle and only partially regressed during the interval between the two cycles. The institutionalized patient, a woman, showed, after three sessions, the reappearance of emotional manifestations (weeping and laughing) and, after the fifth session, she begun speaking again, even if with isolated and echolatic words. After the eighth session, she could begin a program of physio-kinesitherapy, thanks to which, after the tenth session, she could begin walking about with support.
Conclusions: The preliminary results obtained from this study are encouraging and entitle us to engage in more in-depth researches in order to prove the effectiveness of Acupuncture in treating these diseases characterized by a very high social cost, in accordance with the directions of the World Health Organization, which considers the treatment of the senile disorders to be one of the primary objectives of the next few years.

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0126 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: ONE CASE OF ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER TREATED WITH THE PLUM-BLOSSOM NEEDLE AND AURICULOTHERAY

ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: Rinaldi
NAME: Rinaldo
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS: V. I. Nieve, 61
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
B-8.
TITLE: ONE CASE OF ACUTE HERPES ZOSTER TREATED WITH THE PLUM-BLOSSOM NEEDLE AND AURICULOTHERAPY
AUTHOR(S): Rinaldo Rinaldi

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: in July 1998 the Author treated one female, aged 58 years, affected by acute herpes Zoster with skin eruptions located on her right thoracic and regions, severe pain and restlessness.

Methods: the Plum-blossom needle tapping was applied on: the corresponding segments of the Huatuojiaji points (EX-B2); the lesion areas until rupture of the blisters; surrounding skin areas and some acupoints, such as Dazhui(GV14), Quchi(LI11), Quze(PC3) and Taichong (LR3), etc.
Auriculotherapy with Vaccaria seeds was applied on the following acupoints: Lung, Liver, Wind Stream(Allergic Area) and Shenmen, etc.

Results: after the first treatment pain almost reduced and a quick formation of scabs was achieved. Successively, satisfactory results were obtained on the skin lesion, completely recovered, pain and the other symptoms.

Discussion: according to TCM theory, this patient was affected by accumulation of Liver fire and endogenous dump-heat; the treatment aimed to eliminate fire, dispel toxins, clear the meridians and relieve pain.

Conclusions: although only one case was followed, this treatment is warmly recommended by the Author because it is safe, simple and very effective on this particular disease, not very easy to be managed either in the acute or in the chronic stage.

KEY WORDS: Herpes Zoster, Plum-blossom needle, auriculotherapy.

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0127 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: PANDOMIZED CLINICAL STUDY - ACUPUNCTURE VERSUS
DRUG-THERAPY IN MIGRAINE WITHOUT AURA (MWA)

ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: Liguori
NAME: Aldo
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS: V. I. Nieve, 61
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
B-9.
TITLE: RANDOMIZED CLINICAL STUDY ¡ª ACUPUNCTURE VERSUS DRUG-THERAPY IN MIGRAINE WITHOUT AURA (MWA)
AUTHOR(S): Aldo Liguori, Filomena Bangrazi Petti, Roberto Falaschi

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: the object of this work is 1)to study the effects of acupuncture in MWA when used both, according to a single standard protocol and according to the differentiated protocols based on the differentiation of the syndromes; 2) to compare the results obtained with acupuncture with those obtained with drug-therapy; 3) to mark out if, to the possible symptomatic improvements obtained after acupuncture, it also corresponds a bio-humoral modulation of levels of B-endorphin and Endotelin 1.

Patients: 90 migraneurs have been randomized into three groups homogeneous in age and sex, each group of 30 subjects: Group A) (standard acupuncture), Group B(differentiation of the syndromes-acupuncture), Group C (drug-therapy). Moreover, other 30 healthy patients homogeneous in age and sex to the three groups (A, B and C) formed a fourth group: the group D (control of blood levels of B-endorphin [B-end] and Endotelin-1 [ET-1]. The migralneurs of Group A and B have been treated for six months with three courses of acupuncture, each of twelve sessions carried out two times a weekday, with a fifteen days gap between the courses. Migraineurs of Group C have been treated for twelve months with drug therapy. All migraineurs used a time chard. In this way a score showed the symptomatology of every single patient during every month. During the first month (To), the patients recorded the symptomatology without undergoing any therapy and the migraineurs recorded the symptomatology in the sixth month of therapy (T6) and in the twelfth month (T12) from the beginning of the therapy. B-end and End-1 metabolites plasma levels were tested before the first session of acupuncture (T0) and after 1 hour (T1h), in Group A and in Group D to evaluate a corrispondent bio-humoral modulation of levels of B-end and Et-1 in the Group A patients in front of Group D patients after only a single session of acupuncture.

RESULTS: In Group A the average level of symptomatology is in T0=189¡¾19, in T6=25.4¡¾6.7, in T12=7.4¡¾5.7, with P<0.001 for T0/T6 and for T6/T12. In Group B the average level of symptomatology is in T0=178¡¾16, in T6=12.3¡¾6.4, in T12=5.0¡¾3.8, with P<0.001 for T0/T6 and for T6/T12. In Group C the average level of symptomatology is in T0=184.2¡¾17, in T6=24.9¡¾5.3, in T12=23.1¡¾5.3, with P<0.001 for T0/T6 and with P=0.015 for T6/T12. Moreover in Group A the level of B-end expressed in pmol/ml in T0 is = 6.5¡¾0.8, in T1h is =9.3¡¾0.8 with P<0.001 whereas in Group D is in T0=10.4¡¾0.8 and is in T1h=10.87¡¾0.9 with P=0.093. In Group A the End-1 expressed in pg/ml is in T0=3.5¡¾0.5 and in T1h=2.84¡¾0.4 with P<0.001 whereas in Group D is in T0=5.74¡¾0.6 and in T1h=5.71¡¾0.6 with P=0.08. In conclusion, relating to the symptomatology of migraine, we can affirm that acupuncture based on the differentiation of the syndromes shows better results (P<0.001) than that based on a standardized protocol. Moreover, the statistically significant changes (P<0.001) of levels of B-end and End-1 after only one single session of acupuncture show that the symptomatological changes are probably to non-casual bio-humoral changes.

KEY WORDS: migraine, acupuncture, B-end, ET-1

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0121 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: A CASE OF ACNE ROSACEA
ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: G. Garofano, A. Cortese, M. Cucci
NAME:
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS:
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
A-14.
TITLE: CASE REPORT A CASE OF ACNE ROSACEA
AUTHOR(S): G. Garofano, A. Cortese, M. Cucci

ABSTRACT:
Introduction: Acne rosacea is a skin disease with unknown aetiology affecting the central areas of the face and being characterized by more or less persistent facial erythrosis, telangiectases and papulopustular lesions. The onset of this disease takes place between 30 and 50 years of age. It affects both the sexes almost indifferently and it seems to prefer the subjects with fair complexion. Even if its causes are unknown, its most important pathogenetic factor is thought to be the presence of a persistent vasomotor erythema due to the permanent and passive vasodilatation of the subpapillary venous plexus. The typical form of rosacea includes: erythema and multiple telangiectases that, eventually, give rise to red or rose-coloured papulae, which sometimes can be painful. The skin can present edema (mainly during the acute episode) and, in 20% of the cases, pustules are present as well.
The recommended therapy is the taking of tetracyclines per os for long periods. The topical therapy includes antibiotic preparations, sulfur or benzoy 1 peroxide-based creams, acetylsalicylic or resorcinol-based alcoholic lotions or hydrocortisone creams. Strong topical sleroids are to be avoided owing both to the frequent rebound phenomena observed in these patients and to the probable onset of atrophy and telangiectases. For the permanent lesions the physical therapy (diathermocoagulation, surgery) is used.
Materials and Method: The patient treated was a 45-year-old woman, manager of a wine-producing family business. She had been suffering from serious Acne rosacea for about 10 years. The clinical picture presented also right scapulohumeral periarthritis, nephrolithiasis and cholelithiasis, obesity, irritable colon, asthenia, insomnia, obsessing thoughts, anxiety and depression. The anamnestic data enabled us to make the diagnosis of tae yin subject, with a fullness of pathogenic energy in the Centre (Earth Element), which, in the 5 movement graph, causes a corresponding void in the point North (Water Element) and a corresponding fullness in the point South (Fire Element), according to the Law of Dominance. Besides, a reflex-inhibition on the tsue yin East and a secondary excess on the matched scho yang (Wood Element) were observed. The treatment strategy was aimed at controlling the periarthritis first of all, since it was the most disturbing element for the patient. Subsequently, it aimed at rebalancing the energetical condition in order to remove at the root the causes of the disease. Therefore, six linear treatments were carried out along the course of the meridians of lung and large intestine (giving rise at first to asthenia and then to a violent reactive algia which lasted for a few hours) until the resolution of the painful symptomatology. Subsequently. a "triangular balancing" on the Anterior Sky of the tsue yin was performed (in accordance with the rules of the Energetics of the Living System developed by Prof. Mussat starting from the data of the T.C.M.) in order to correct the altered neuropsychological mechanisms. Finally, a treatment of dispersion of the tae yin Centre was carried out and, both in the middle and at the end of the therapeutic cycle, a treatment of "triangular balancing" of the tae yin Centre was performed as well. The sessions, taking place on a weekly basis, lasted for about 30 minutes and involved the use of trimetallic needles.
Results: At the end of the treatment, the patient's psychophysical picture had improved and a remarkable mitigation of the symptoms(asthenia, depression, obsessing thoughts, insomnia, irritable colon) was noticed, but the most evident element was the general 80-90% reduction in the manifestation of acne rosacea in comparison with the situation at the beginning of the therapy.
Conclusion: The slightness of the sample doesn't allow making definite assessments of the effectiveness of Acupuncture in treating this disease, but the results obtained undoubtedly encourage us to widen the sample in the hope of confirming the acquired data and offering prospects of higher quality life.

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0123 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: The Regulation of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine in Italy

ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: RACCAH
NAME: Diamantine
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS: c/o AIAM, Via Oreste Regnoli 8
E-MAIL:
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
A-15.
TITLE: The Regulation of Acupuncture and Traditional Medicine in Italy
AUTHOR(S): RACCAH Diamantine

ABSTRACT:
A draft bill is at present under discussion at the Italian Parliament to regulate acupuncture and other Eastern as well as Western methods of traditional medicine. A major presupposition of this draft bill is that the State should grant that people and health workers can be free to choose the therapeutic methods they want to adopt.
Despite this draft bill plans a number of actions that aim at granting that these therapeutic methods are developed, applied and used correctly, it suffers from a basic misunderstanding which has also influenced other draft bills in the past: that is, the adoption of legislative criteria of modern medicine as the reference parameter to regulate traditional medicine.
Therefore it does not take in due consideration some basic problems that should not be ignored in regulating acupuncture and traditional medicine in general:
Respect the peculiarity of therapies that have radically different theories and knowledge from modern medicine.
Have a broad vision that anticipates the requirements of a future harmonization of the laws of European countries. The draft bill points out this problem, yet it doesn't take into sufficient consideration how different is the situation of traditional medicine in the various European countries.
In the field of education, it should be necessary to consider the radically different approaches of modern medicine and traditional medicine, which would require really differentiated university training courses. Acupuncture as well as any other traditional medicine cannot simply be a "specialization" of modern medicine.
As concerns quality control of medicine preparations, it would be necessary to highlight the specificity of traditional preparations. Scientific research is especially addressed to synthetic drugs, since the discover of each new active principle opens an unknown field. In the case of traditional medicine, effects contraindications and toxicity of each single substance have already been verified through hundreds or even thousands of years of clinical practice.

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0124 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: Treatment of 43 cases of nephrolithiasis with Chinese HD-89-VA apparatus and auriculotherapy
ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: MINCIARELLI
NAME: Serena
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS: c/o AIAM, Via Oreste Regnoli 8
E-MAIL:
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
A-16.
TITLE: Treatment of 43 cases of nephrolithiasis with Chinese HD-89-VA apparatus and auriculotherapy
AUTHOR(S): MINCIARELLI Serena, RUGHINI Susanna

ABSTRACT:
Introduction: In the period April 1998-February 2000, 43 patients (29 females and 14 males) ranging in age between 20 and 64 years, affected by nephrolithiasis, were treated with a therapeutic method combining the Chinese HD-89-VA apparatus and auriculotherapy, with satisfactory results.
Methods: 1) The Chinese HD-89-VA apparatus is based on electro-magnetic impulses that, by means of specific electrodes fixed on the skin of the patient, stimulate a series of acupoints selected according to the disease: e.g. Shenshu(BL23) and Huangshu(KI16), etc. One application every other day; 12 applications were a therapeutic course. 2)Auriculotherapy with Vaccaria seeds: the points Kidney, Urinary Badder and Shenmen, etc. were selected. The seeds were changed every 3-4 days; 8-10 applications were a therapeutic course.
Results: 35 cases (81.4%) were cured, i.e. the stones were eliminated; 8 cases (18.6%) ineffective.
Discussion: The combination of the Chinese HD-89-VA apparatus (whose application promotes the removal of the stones in the urinary passageways) with the auriculotherapy (which helps in reducing pain and organic dysfunctions such as poor appetite, lassitude and nausea, etc. and contributes itself in eliminating the stones), produced very good results in the treatment of the above disease.
Conclusion: Although used in a rather few cases, this treatment proved to be very simple, well accepted by the patients, safe and effective, so the Authors suggest to spread it in the clinical practice.
Key words: nephrolithiasis, auriculotherapy.

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0125 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: CLINICAL RANDOMIZED STUDY ON ACUPUNCTURE VERSUS CORTISTEROID THERARY IN ALLERGIC CHRONIC CONJUNCTIVITES (ACC)

ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: Bangrazi petti
NAME: Filomena
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS: V. I. Nieve, 61
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
A-17.
TITLE: CLINICAL RANDOMIZED STUDY ON ACUPUNCTURE VERSUS CORTISTEROID THERAPY IN ALLERGIC CHRONIC CONJUNCTIVITES (ACC)
AUTHOR(S): Filomena Bangrazi Petti, Aldo Liguori, Roberto Falaschi

ABSTRACT:
PURPOSE OF THE WORK: 1) to study the acupuncture effects in ACC when it is used and through a standardized protocol, and through differential protocols based on the differentiation of the syndromes; 2) To confront the therapeutic effects of acupuncture versus cortisteroid therapy. 3) To mark out if to the eventual improvement in the symptomato-logical ground after therapy with acupuncture it corresponds a bihumoral variation of IL 10.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: 120 ACC patients have been randomly divided into four groups, each group of 30 people, homogeneous in sex and in age: Group A (standard acupuncture), Group B(acupuncture with the differentiation of the syndromes), Group C(treated with cortisone) Group D(control IL 10 in non treated patients for 24h). The ACC patients have been studied scoring from 0 to 5 points each of the following symptoms: itch, photophobia, lachrymation, secretion and burning. The scores have been calculated before of the treatment(T0), after a course of 20 acupuncture treatments (T1) and after a follow up of 3 months (T2). Besides, in group A, IL10 has been dosed at time 0 (T0), 1 hour after (T1h) and 24 hours after the treatment (T24h) in order to confront the eventual modifications caused by a single treatment in Group A versus Group D, which underwent the same control at the same time.
RESULTS: The average value of the symptomatology in Group A at T0 is 22.1¡¾3.4, at T1=12.0¡¾2.5, at T2=6.3¡¾3.1 with P<0.001 for T0/T1 and T1/T2. In Group B the average value of the symptomatology at T0 is =23.1¡¾3.9, at T1=8.9¡¾2.4 at T2=3.3¡¾2.3 with P<0.001 for T0/T1 and T1/T2. In Group C the average value at T0 is 22.5¡¾5.0 at T1=8.2¡¾2.14 at T2=9.3¡¾2.7 with P<0.001 for T0/T1 and with P=0.08 for T1/T2. Besides, in Group A the values of IL 10, expressed in ng/ml are at T0 126.9¡¾15.6 at T1h=86.4¡¾10.8 and at T24h=77.03¡¾9.4 with P<0.001 for T0/T1h and for T1h/T24h. In the group D the values of IL10 expressed in ng/ml are instead at T0=145¡¾12.7, at T1h=145¡¾12.3 and at T24h=14.3¡¾13 with P=0.3 for T0/T1h and P=0.8 for T1h/T24h. Being the values at T0 homogeneous in three groups, the results of this study show that at T2 the improvement of the symptomatology is more evident in Group B(acupuncture with the differentiations of the syndromes) than that of group A (standard acupuncture) (P<0.001) and that in both the groups A and B the improvement of the symptomatology is more evident than that in group C (therapy with cortisone) (P<0.001). Moreover, the decrease of the IL10 in group A after only one acupuncture treatment (P<0.001), shows that parallely to the decrease of the symptomatology it is possible after acupuncture to obtain the decrease of an important bihumoral parameter, which results invaried in group D, not treated.
Key words: conjunctivites, acupuncture, IL10

ACUPUNCTURE THESIS
THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON ACUPUNCTURE
KS-0128 LOCATION SEOUL

TITLE: The innovation in electrode of acusector and its clinical verification

ISSUE DATE: November 12-15, 2000
LAST NAME: ZHOU
NAME: YUEXIN
NATIONALITY: Italy
ADDRESS: RONCADELLE 17/E
E-MAIL:
ABSTRACT: abbreviation
A-18.
TITLE: The innovation in electrode of acusector and its clinical verification
AUTHOR(S): xia jing qing zhou yue xiu

ABSTRACT:
The acusector is an electronic acupuncture at present, its electrode is a clip, it clips the handle on pinhead and electrify for cure. It has no traditional twist, this is a big blemish, so that we ameliorate the electrode of the acusector, we use plate to make the electrode, is has a pinhole in the center, the acupuncture get across the pinhole and penetrate the cutis, therefore doctor can use his hand to manipulate acupuncture during the electrotherapy, actualize the traditional stitch. As that is a favorable improvement. both conventional tact and modern electrotherapy can heal patient at one time, it is best with all exert action. Cure of contrapose to verify 100 cases of face paralytic, the period of new electrode group shorter than old acusector group by 20 days.