Fire Needle Therapy Research Articles

Progress of different treatment modalities to limit the use of antibiotics in the treatment of acne

Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin diseases, affecting mainly teenagers. Its treatment procedure is complex, with a long duration of medication. Antibiotics are the most preferably prescribed drugs for the treatment of acne. The long-term use of antibiotics leads to various adverse effects such as the disruption of indigenous flora and resistance. Therefore, numerous therapeutic protocols such as antimicrobial stewardship have been proposed to limit the haphazard use of oral antibiotics. This review emphasizes different topical drugs, systemic alternative drugs, laser, and light therapy, as effective therapies for acne. This review also briefly reflects the efficacy of fire needle therapy—a traditional Chinese therapy—for acne.

Clinical Research Progress of Fire Needle Therapy in Treating Skin Diseases

Fire needle therapy, as one of the commonly used external treatment methods in traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used in the It has a long history, wide indications, accurate curative effect, and has a good prospect. This paper summarizes the application of fire needle therapy in various skin diseases in recent years, in order to explore the mechanism and efficacy of This paper summarizes the application of fire needle therapy in various skin diseases in recent years, in order to explore the mechanism and efficacy of fire needle therapy in the This paper summarizes the application of fire needle therapy in various skin diseases in recent years, in order to explore the mechanism and efficacy of fire needle therapy in the treatment of skin diseases, in order to provide clinical reference for the future application of fire needle therapy.

Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome of spleen deficiency and damp excess treated with fire needling therapy with filiform needle and acupoint application therapy: a randomized controlled trial

Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome of spleen deficiency and damp excess treated with fire needling therapy with filiform needle and acupoint application therapy: a randomized controlled trial

Fire needle therapy for blood stasis syndrome of plaque psoriasis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Plaque psoriasis (PSO) is a common clinical chronic inflammatory skin disease. The incidence rate is increasing year by year due to the fast pace of work and unhealthy diet. Fire needle has been widely used in the treatment of PSO. However, the efficacy of fire needle for PSO is uncertain. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fire needle for PSO (blood stasis syndrome).Methods:The following electronic databases will be searched from inception to October 2020:PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WangFang Database, Chinese Science Journal Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. In addition, other documents that meet the requirements will be manually searched, including conference papers, dissertations, etc. All randomized controlled trials using fire needle to treat PSO (blood stasis syndrome) that meet the criteria for inclusion will be included. The primary outcomes are clinical efficacy, Psoriasis area and severity index. Secondary outcomes include Itchy, TCM evaluation standard syndrome score, Dermatological quality of life index, and adverse events. To complete data synthesis and assess the risk of bias, we will use the RevMan V.5.3 software.Results:The review results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.Conclusion:This study will provide high-quality evidence based medicine to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of fire needle for PSO (blood stasis syndrome), and further seek its scientific and effective chinese medicine treatment methods.INPLASY registration number:INPLASY202120007.

Effectiveness and safety of fire needle for knee osteoarthritis: A protocol of systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:There is a lack of curative medical treatment for patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Acupuncture represents an important alternative therapy. In various forms of acupuncture and moxibustion, the fire needle is an indispensable part. Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a series of symptoms and signs of knee joint caused by local injury and inflammation and chronic strain of the knee joint resulting in cartilage degeneration of the articular surface and reactive bone loss of the subchondral bone plate. The results of clinical trial indicated that the fire needle therapy has obvious curative effect in treating KOA. This protocol is intended to describe how to collate and accumulate evidence for the current efficient and safe treatment of KOA with fire needle.Methods:Seven electronic databases were used to retrieve the literature for the KOA randomized controlled trials, including 3 English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [Cochrane Library]), and 4 Chinese databases (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese VIP Information, Wanfang Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database). This systematic review will include all randomized controlled clinical trials using fire needle therapy for KOA. The observation Index is the Change of Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index Total, first proposed by Bellamy in 1988. The selection of the study will be completed independently by 2 reviewers, extract the data, and evaluate the quality of the study before selecting the title, abstract, and full text. Revman 5.4 software will be used to perform meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials, where risk ratios for dichotomous data and standardized or weighted mean differences for continuous data are the results.Result:The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.Conclusion:This systematic review will provide the latest evidence to evaluate the safety and efficacy of fire needle therapy in patients with KOA.Trial registration number:INPLASY202080030

Efficacy and Safety of Fire Needle Therapy for Flat Warts: Evidence from 29 Randomized Controlled Trials.

Flat warts are a common and recurrent skin disease that has no specific antiviral treatment. As an alternative or complementary therapy, fire needle therapy has been widely used in the treatment of flat warts. The objective of this study was to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy for flat warts. Using the search terms “flat warts” and “fire needle,” we searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, Chinese biomedical (SinoMed) database, and the China Science and Technology Journal databases for studies until March 12, 2020. Randomized controlled trials comparing fire needle therapies with conventional therapies were also included. We calculated the risk ratios (RR) and mean differences with a 95% confidence interval (CI). We analyzed 29 trials involving 2,666 patients. Results showed that the use of fire needle therapy alone may have a higher efficacy rate compared with that of an immunomodulator (RR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.20, I2 = 0%, P = 0.006; RR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.03 to 1.37, I2 = 70%, P = 0.02, respectively) or tretinoin (RR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.25 to 1.55, I2 = 0%, P < 0.00001), with a lower risk of blisters (P = 0.03) or erythema (P = 0.04), but with a higher risk of pigmentation (P = 0.02). We also determined the efficacy rate of fire needle therapy in combination with traditional Chinese medicine (RR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.23, I2 = 21%, P < 0.00001), immunomodulators (RR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.28, I2 = 33%, P = 0.0005), imiquimod (RR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.42, P = 0.02), or as multidrug therapies (RR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.24, I2 = 0%, P = 0.0001) and found that the combination treatments could reduce recurrence rates (P < 0.00001) and provided a lower risk of desquamation (P = 0.006). In conclusion, fire needle therapy seems to be effective for flat warts, with a reduced incidence of adverse events, such as blisters, erythema, and desquamation, but may increase incidence of pigmentation.

Fire needling stripping after local anesthesia for verruca vulgaris: a multi-center randomized controlled trial

To compare the clinical therapeutic effect of fire needling stripping after local anesthesia, simple fire needling and liquid nitrogen cryotherapy on verruca vulgaris. A total of 900 patients with verruca vulgaris were randomized into a fire needling stripping group (300 cases, 2 cases dropped off), a fire needling group (300 cases, 4 cases dropped off) and a liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group (300 cases, 5 cases dropped off). After local anesthesia of compound lidocaine cream, fire needling therapy was adopted, and the necrotic tissue of verruca was stripped in the fire needling stripping group. Simple fire needling therapy was adopted in the fire needling group, without local anesthesia and stripping. Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy was adopted in the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group. The treatment was given once a week, and totally 3 weeks were required in the 3 groups. The skin lesion scores of number, area, thickness, color, pruritus, isomorphism and the level of T lymphocyte (CD+3、CD+4、CD+8、CD+4/ CD+8) in peripheral blood were observed before and after treatment, and the adverse reaction was recorded in the 3 groups. Five weeks after treatment, the therapeutic effect was evaluated. Compared before treatment, the skin lesion scores were decreased (P<0.05), the levels of T lymphocyte in peripheral blood were increased in the 3 groups (P<0.05). After treatment, all the items of the skin lesion score in the fire needling stripping group were lower than those in the fire needling group and the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group (P<0.05), the levels of T lymphocyte in peripheral blood were higher than those in the fire needling group and the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group (P<0.05); all the items of the skin lesion score in the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group were lower than those in the fire needling group (P<0.05). At the follow-up, the total effective rate was 88.6% (264/298) in the fire needling stripping group, which was superior to 81.4% (241/296) in the fire needling group and 81.4% (240/295) in the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group (P<0.05). The cases of infection, causalgia and cicatrix in the liquid nitrogen cryotherapy group were more than those in the fire needling stripping group and the fire needling group (P<0.05). Fire needling stripping after local anesthesia can effectively treat the verruca vulgaris, improve the skin lesion and immunity, its therapeutic effect is superior to simple fire needling and liquid nitrogen cryotherapy.

Therapeutic effects of "kidney three-needle" therapy plus fire needling therapy in treatment of post-stroke urinary incontinence

To observe the efficacy of "kidney three-needle" therapy［Qugu（CV2） and 1 cun to the left and right of CV2］ and the pricking technique of fire needing therapy on urinary frequency and maximal bladder volume in potients with post-stroke urinary incontinence. A total of 60 patients with post-stroke urinary incontinence were collected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were randomized into an observation group (30 cases) and a control group (30 cases). On the base of the routine medication and rehabilitation treatment, acupuncture was applied to the general acupoints for motor impairment and speech disorder in the two groups. Additionally, the combination of "kidney three-needle" therapy and the pricking technique of fire needling therapy was used for urinary incontinence in the observation group and the common acupuncture was applied in the control group. Needles were retained for 30 min and acupuncture was provided once daily, 5 days a weeks, 2 weeks of treatment as one course. Both groups were treated for 3 courses. Before and after treatment, the rank of daytime urinary frequency was compared in the patients of the two groups. Ultrasound B was adopted to determine the maximal bladder volume. The total effective rate was compared between the two groups. After treatment, the rank of daytime urinary frequency all reduced significantly as compared with that before treatment in the patients of the two groups (P<0.01)， and the observation group was lower than the control group (P<0.05). After the treatment, the maximal bladder volume increased significantly as compared with that before treatment in the self-comparison of each group (P<0.01) and the volume in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). The total effective rate was 93.3% (28/30) in the observation group and was 66.7% (20/30) in the control group. The total effective rate in the observation group was higher obviously than that in the control group (P<0.05). The combination of "kidney three-needle" therapy and the pricking technique of fire needling therapy significantly reduces the rank of daytime urinary frequency and increases maximal bladder volume in the patients with post-stroke urinary incontinence. The therapeutic effect of such combined acupuncture treatment is better than the common acupuncture therapy.

Efficacy of fire needle on patients of facial spasm: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

Background:Facial spasm causes a lot of troubles to patients daily life and seriously affects their mental and physical health. Relevant studies have shown that fire needle therapy has certain benefits for facial spasm, is an integral part of acupuncture therapy. However, there is no unanimous conclusion. The main purpose of our study is to measure whether fire needle therapy is effective for facial spasm.Methods:The following electronic databases will be searched for the collection of fire-needle related randomized controlled trials (RCTS) for facial spasm, including 4 English databases (Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Pubmed) and 3 Chinese databases (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], Wanfang data, Chinese VIP Information). The cure rate and total effective rate are the main outcomes, while the intensity, frequency, recurrence rate and adverse events are the secondary outcomes. We will use Endnote software X9 for study selection, Review Manager software 5.4 and STATA 13.0 software for analysis and synthesis.Results:We will evaluate the efficacy of fire needles in the treatment of facial spasm in combination with current studies.Conclusion:The conclusion of this study will provide evidence for the efficacy of fire needle in the treatment of facial spasm.Trial registration number:INPLASY202080036.

Clinical observation on therapeutic effect of filiform fire needle for vitiligo: A retrospective study

Vitiligo is a common and refractory disease worldwide. The limited efficiency and side effects of the conventional treatment options create demands towards the development of strategies. Excellent repigmentation is demonstrated after several filiform fire needle sessions in the vitiligo lesions. In this observational study, we aimed to observe the response to filiform fire needle therapy in patients with vitiligo, and determine whether there was a difference of efficiency with respect to the type, affected site, and disease duration of vitiligo. Patients received filiform fire needle therapy once every 2 weeks for 12 consecutive weeks. The results of the 77 vitiligo patients were: 34 (44.15%) with an excellent repigmentation rate, 15 (19.48%) with a marked improvement, 15 (19.48%) with a moderate response, 6 (7.79%) with a slight improvement, and 7 (9.09%) with an absent response. Among the vitiligo patients with different affected sites, the most effective location of therapy was the face. Shorter course leads to better therapeutic effect. Two patients developed hypertrophic scars on the lesion site. In conclusion, this study shows filiform fire needle therapy is an effective and relatively safe therapeutic option for vitiligo.

Efficacy and safety of fire needle vs conventional acupuncture in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

Fire needle therapy has the double function of acupuncture and moxibustion, which has both the stimulation of needle and the warm stimulation of moxibustion. As an important part of acupuncture and moxibustion, fire needle has been widely used in clinical treatment since ancient times in China. Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a kind of chronic and solid neuropathic pain with persistent and intense pain after the skin lesion of sores has been completely eliminated. The clinical treatment of PHN is mostly integrated therapy. In recent years, many literatures have reported that the curative effect of fire needle on PHN is accurate. The purpose of this protocol is to describe how to accumulate evidence for further understanding of the status quo and reliability of clinical practice in the treatment of PHN with fire needle. Seven electronic databases were used to retrieve the literature for the PHN randomized controlled trials, including 3 English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [Cochrane Library]) and 4 Chinesedatabases (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese VIP Information, Wanfang Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database). This systematic review will include all randomized controlled clinical trials using fireneedle therapy for PHN. Pain intensity, safety and cost, quality of life, global perceptionare outcomes. The selection of the study will be completed independently by 2 reviewers, extract the data, and evaluate the quality of the study before selecting the title, abstract, and full text. Revman 5.4 software will be used to perform meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials, where risk ratios for dichotomous data and standardized or weighted mean differences for continuous data are the results. Conclusion:This proposed systematic review will provide up-to-date evidence to assess the effect of fire needle for patients with PHN. INPLASY202080029.

Efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy for blood stasis syndrome of plaque psoriasis: protocol for a randomized, single-blind, multicenter clinical trial

BackgroundFire needle therapy is a characteristic treatment in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). An increasing number of studies have indicated that fire needle treatment for psoriasis provides satisfactory results with few side effects and a low recurrence rate. We herein describe the protocol for a multicenter, randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial that will provide high-quality evidence on the efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy for plaque psoriasis.MethodsNinety-two patients with blood stasis syndrome (BSS) of plaque psoriasis will be enrolled and randomly assigned to receive fire needle therapy (intervention group) or fire needle control therapy (control group) once a week for 4 weeks. The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score will serve as the major efficacy index, while the body surface area (BSA), Physician Global Assessment (PGA) score, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) score, patient-reported quality of life (PRQoL), visual analog scale (VAS) score for itching, TCM symptom score, and relapse rate will be assessed as secondary outcomes. The PASI score, BSA, PGA score, and VAS score for itching will be evaluated at baseline and during the 4-week treatment and follow-up periods. DLQI score, PRQoL, and TCM symptom score will be assessed at baseline and during the treatment period. Recurrence will be evaluated during the follow-up period. Safety assessments include vital sign monitoring, routine blood tests, blood biochemistry, routine urine tests, pregnancy tests, physical examinations, and adverse-event recording. SAS software will be used for data analysis. The data network platform will be designed by the data management center of Nanjing Ningqi Medical Technology Co., Ltd.DiscussionIt is believed that fire needle therapy can activate the meridians, promote blood circulation, and regulate skin immunity. BSS of plaque psoriasis is related to not only immune dysfunction but also poor or stagnant blood flow. We anticipate that the results of the trial described in this protocol will provide strong evidence for the safety and efficacy of fire needle therapy for BSS of plaque psoriasis.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.govNCT03953885. Registered on May 15, 2019. Name: Fire Needle Therapy on Plaque Psoriasis with Blood Stasis Syndrome

The efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy for COVID-19: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a new type of coronavirus, first reported in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019. As a result of the worldwide outbreak, the number of patients continues to increase. With multiple therapeutic interventions, more and more patients are recovering. Fire needle is used as an alternative therapy. At present, there are no relevant articles for systematic review and meta-analysis, so this study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of fire needle in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia.Methods:The following electronic bibliographic databases will be searched to identify relevant studies from December 2019 to December 2020: MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP), Wan-fang data, Chinese Biological Medicine Database (CBM), and other databases. All included articles were randomized controlled trial without any language restrictions. Two reviewers will independently conduct cations retrieval, de-duplication, filtering, quality assessment, and data analysis by the Review Manager (V.5.3). Meta-analysis, subgroup analysis and/or descriptive analysis were performed on the included data.Discussion:This study will investigate the application of fire needle in the treatment or prevention of COVID-19, and provide a high-quality synthesis to evaluate whether fire needle is an effective and safe intervention for COVID-19.Systematic review registration:PROSPERO registration number: CRD 42020193703.

Fire Needle Therapy for the Treatment of Psoriasis: A Quantitative Evidence Synthesis.

Background: Fire needle therapy is a method of quickly piercing into acupoints with red-hot needles to treat diseases. Recently, multiple studies have reported that fire needle therapy is effective in the treatment of psoriasis; however, there are few articles systematically evaluating the effect of this therapy. Therefore, this systematic and meta-analysis study is conducted to estimate the efficacy and safety of fire needle therapy for psoriasis. Methods: PubMed, Embase, CNKI, VIP, CBM, CENTRAL, and Wan Fang databases were systematically searched from the dates of construction of these databases to August 24, 2019, and randomized controlled trials assessing patients with psoriasis who were treated with fire needle therapy alone or in combination with other drugs were also evaluated. Results: Fire needle therapy was effective in treating psoriasis (p = 0.0002; risk ratio [RR], 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.33) with a lower recurrence rate (p = 0.005; RR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.29-0.80). Adverse events after fire needle treatment were similar to those without fire needle treatment (p = 0.38; RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.28-1.63). After fire needle treatment, the number of cluster of differentiation (CD)8+T cells, type 1 helper cells, interleukin (IL)-2, and interferon (IFN)-γ decreased, whereas the number of CD4+T cells, type 2 helper cells, IL-4, IL-10, and the proportion of CD4+T cells and CD8+T cells increased. Conclusions: Fire needle therapy, specifically in combination with oral medicines, is effective in treating patients with psoriasis with low recurrence rates.

Efficacy and safety of fire-needle in the treatment of gouty arthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

Background:Fire needle therapy is an ancient external treatment method of traditional Chinese medicine. This therapy is simple to operate and has fewer side effects. Gouty arthritis (GA) is common disease that is often characterized by high excruciating pain on joint. Evidence from clinical studies show that fire needle exerts therapeutic effects on gout arthritis, but no evidence-based medicine is available. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of fire acupuncture in the treatment of gout arthritis.Methods:Randomized controlled trials of fire needle in the treatment of GA published until May 2020 will be searched in the English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library) and Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, Wanfang database, and China Biomedical Literature Database). Additional search will be performed on Google academy and Baidu Academy. Data will be extracted from the studies by 2 reviewers working independently. Subsequently, quality assessment and a meta-analysis will be carried out for the studies using RevMan 5.3.Results:The efficacy and safety of fire needle in the treatment of GA will be evaluated based on overall effective rate, visual analog scale, blood uric acid, C-reactive protein, joint swelling and pain score, adverse reaction rate, and other clinical outcomes.Conclusions:The proposed systematic review and meta-analysis are expected to provide reliable evidence for the clinical benefits of fire-needle therapy in GA.

Exploration of fire needling therapy on coronavirus disease 2019

Combined with previous clinical experience in anti-epidemic and acupuncture, the prevention program of fire needling therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was drawn out. Fire needling therapy has the effects of clearing heat, removing dampness, replenishing for the deficiency, removing stasis and detoxifying, which is mainly aimed at preventing populations, light and common types cases, and cases in the recovery period. Acupoints of governor vessel, lung meridian, bladder meridian and stomach meridian are mainly used in this program. For the special groups, such as children, elderly and weak, and pregnant women, Shenzhu (GV 12), Danshu (BL 19), Geshu (BL 17), Zhigou (TE 6), etc. are added. It is hoped that fire needling therapy will be applied in the community and square cabin hospitals as an effective supplement to anti-epidemic of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Clinical observation on filiform fire-needling plus continuous passive motion therapy for frozen shoulder

To observe the clinical efficacy of filiform fire-needling plus continuous passive motion (CPM) therapy for frozen shoulder. A total of 72 patients were randomized into an observation group and a control group by the random number table method, with 36 cases in each group. Patients in the control group received celecoxib capsule plus CPM, while those in the observation group received filiform fire-needling plus CPM. The whole course of treatment lasted for 2 weeks in both groups. The visual analog scale (VAS), Constant-Murley score (CMS) and range of motion of shoulder joint were measured for therapeutic efficacy evaluation. The total effective rate was 91.7% in the observation group, higher than 72.2% in the control group, and the between-group comparison showed statistical significance (P<0.05). After treatment, the VAS scores in the two groups dropped significantly, the CMS as well as the range of motion including abduction, forward flexion and extension were all increased significantly, and the intra-group comparisons showed statistical significance (all P<0.05). The between-group comparisons showed the improvements in these items in the observation group were more significant than those in the control group (all P<0.05). Filiform fire-needling plus CPM can produce more significant efficacy than celecoxib capsule plus CPM for frozen shoulder; it can alleviate pain, improve shoulder function and restore joint range of motion in such patients.

Effectiveness of fire needle combining with moist healing dressing to promote the growth of granulation tissue in chronic wounds: A case report

In this case study, we analyzed the wound-healing process of a patient with a chronic wound who underwent fire needle treatment, and we tracked the coverage of granulation tissue and decrease of slough and exudate. An 85-year-old man had repeated right shoulder and back pain, itching, and skin festering for more than 1.5 years. A fire needle was administered combined with moist dressing once every 5 days to promote wound healing. After six rounds of fire needle treatment, granulation tissue formed over the surface of the wound base, the depth of the wound had become shallow, and the wound area was reduced. No complications occurred during the intervention. Fire needle therapy combined with a moist wound-healing dressing can be an effective alternative approach in managing chronic wounds.

Effect of fire needle therapy on mild-moderate benign prostatic hyperplasia: Protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial.

Background:Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common non-cancerous disease of the prostate and leads to lower urinary tract symptoms in middle-aged and elderly males. Fire needle therapy could improve the lower urinary tract symptoms associated with mild-moderate BPH in clinical practice. The aim of the present pilot study is to assess the preliminary effects of fire needle therapy on mild-moderate BPH.Methods:The present study is a prospective parallel randomized controlled pilot trial. A total of 60 eligible participants will be randomly assigned to a treatment or control group at a 1:1 ratio. The treatment group will receive fire needle therapy and the control group will receive watchful waiting with lifestyle advice and education regarding BPH. Participants will receive intervention for 4 weeks, with a follow-up period of 4 additional weeks. Adverse events will be recorded to assess the safety and tolerability of fire needle therapy for mild-moderate BPH. The primary outcome will be the change in the International Prostate Symptom Score. The secondary outcomes will include the change in the mean number of nightly urinations, the maximum urinary flow rate, the average flow rate, and the prostate volume as measured by a B-mode ultrasound device. All outcome measures will be observed at baseline and at 4 and 8 weeks following the beginning of treatment.Discussion:The present study will provide evidence of the preliminary effects of fire needle therapy on mild-moderate BPH and indicate an optimal sample size for future studies.

Clinical observation of epiphora as sequela of peripheral facial paralysis treated with pricking technique of fire needling therapy at chéngqì (承泣 ST1)

ObjectiveTo compare the clinical therapeutic effect on epiphora as sequela of peripheral facial paralysis treated with pricking technqiue of fire needling therapy at Chéngqì (承泣 ST1) and acupuncture treatment at conventional acupoints. MethodsFrom September 2018 through to October 2018, 64 cases of epiphora as sequela of peripheral facial paralysis were collected from the Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion in Suzhou TCM Hospital. According to random number table, they were divided into an observation group and a control group, 32 cases in each one. In the observation group, pricking technique of fire needling therapy was used at ST1, once every two days. In the control group, acupuncture with filiform needle was applied to Jīngmíng (睛明BL1), Tàiyáng (太阳EX-HN5), Tóngzĭliáo (瞳子髎GB1), Sìbái (四白ST2) and Quánliáo (颧髎SI18) on the affected side as well as Hégŭ (合谷LI4) on the contralateral side, once per day. The 10-day treatment was as one 1 course and the consecutive 3 courses of treatment were required in either of the groups. Before and after treatment, Munk grade, clinical effective rate and the number of treatments were observed in the evaluation of therapeutic effect. ResultsAfter treatment, Munk grade was improved in the patients of the two groups (both P < 0.05). The improvement range in the observation group was larger than that of the control group (P < 0.05). The treatment in either group achieved the obviously therapeutic effect on epiphora as sequela of peripheral facial paralysis. The effective rate in the observation group was 90.32%, higher than 61.29% in the control group (P < 0.05). The mean number of treatments of the curative case were 5.11 in the observation group and were 13.73 in the control group, indicating the statistical significance in difference (P < 0.05). ConclusionPricking technique of fire needling therapy at ST1 achieves the better effect on epiphora as sequela of peripheral facial paralysis as compared with acupuncture at conventional acupoints.