Literature analysis of acupuncture for urticaria from Encyclopaedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Objective To analyze the related records of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of urticaria in ancient medical books, and to select valuable data as a reference for clinical optimization of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. Methods With the keywords of Zhen and Feng Sao Yin Zhen, the ancient medical records of acupuncture and moxibustion were retrieved from Encyclopaedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (5th edition) as the research object, to build database including books, publish year, records, number of selected acupoints, acupuncture and moxibustion methods, acupuncture points, and analyze according to the frequency. Results The earliest records were from the Jin Dynasty (A.D.266-420) A-B classic of acupuncture and moxibustion, the most documented book was the Ming Dynasty Pu Ji Fang (22); 63.64% of the records did not describe the urticaria syndrome classification, while 36.35% only briefly described the cold and heat. There were 117 single point prescription, 4 pair points prescription, 11 multi-point prescription. The commonly used interventions were acupuncture combined with moxibustion (41), moxibustion (31) and needling (22). Commonly used acupoints were Quchi (43), Hegu (18), Jianyu (17). The acupoints were mainly from Hand Yangming large intestine meridian (84), as the specific points of five (105) and from upper limb (120). Conclusions Chinese acupuncture treatment of urticaria has a long history. Prescription was usually single prescription, and the lack of the principle of syndrome differentiation, acupoints from the Hand Yangming large intestine meridian were Quchi, Hegu, etc. as the main points. Ancient medical acupuncture treatment program might be suitable for acute urticaria and grassroots units. Key words: Urticaria; Acupuncture; Encyclopaedia of traditional Chinese medicine; Medicine pharmacologic literature (TCM); Bibliometrics