Department of Cardiovascular and Neurologic Diseases, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung-Hee University, 149 Sangil-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul, Korea.
J Altern Complement Med. 2010 Aug;16(8):883-8. doi: 10.1089/acm.2009.0427.
The objective of the study was to test whether acupuncture improves endothelial dysfunction in patients with hypertension and compare the effects of different acupoints to find out which one is the most suitable for the long-term follow-up study.
This study is a pilot, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial. Subjects were randomly assigned to a sequence of four acupuncture treatment phases, each for 15 minutes with a 7-day washout period in between. Acupuncture needles were inserted at bilateral ST 36; PC 6; ST 36 plus PC 6; and placebo points.
Fifteen (15) patients with essential hypertension were the subjects.
Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and blood pressure were assessed before and after acupuncture treatment.
FMD significantly improved with the acupuncture treatment at ST 36 (0.266 +/- 0.078 mm to 0.306 +/- 0.077 mm, p = 0.003) and ST 36 plus PC 6 (0.284 +/- 0.098 mm to 0.332 +/- 0.103 mm, p < 0.001). In contrast, FMD was unchanged after the acupuncture treatment at PC 6 or the placebo treatment. The FMD response to the acupuncture treatment at ST 36 plus PC 6 was significantly different from the response to the acupuncture treatment at PC 6 and the placebo treatment (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively). The acupuncture treatment at ST 36 significantly increased FMD compared to the placebo treatment (p < 0.05).
This study demonstrates that the acute treatment of acupuncture in hypertensive patients improves endothelial dysfunction. The beneficial effect of acupuncture could be of clinical importance to prevent the progression of cardiovascular diseases in hypertensive patients. However, the potential role of acupuncture treatment for long-term therapy has not been examined. Further studies will be necessary to demonstrate whether long-term acupuncture treatment can sustain the improvement in endothelial dysfunction.
本研究旨在测试针刺是否能改善高血压患者的内皮功能障碍，并比较不同穴位的效果，以找出最适合长期随访研究的穴位。
这是一项前瞻性、随机、双盲、安慰剂对照交叉试验。将受试者随机分配到四个针刺治疗阶段的序列中，每个阶段持续 15 分钟，间隔 7 天洗脱期。双侧 ST36、PC6、ST36 加 PC6 和安慰剂点分别插入针刺针。
15 名（15 名）原发性高血压患者为研究对象。
针刺治疗前后血流介导的扩张（FMD）和血压。
针刺 ST36（0.266±0.078mm 至 0.306±0.077mm，p=0.003）和 ST36 加 PC6（0.284±0.098mm 至 0.332±0.103mm，p<0.001）可显著改善 FMD。相反，针刺 PC6 或安慰剂治疗后 FMD 无变化。针刺 ST36 加 PC6 的 FMD 反应与针刺 PC6 和安慰剂治疗的反应明显不同（p<0.05，p<0.01）。针刺 ST36 治疗与安慰剂治疗相比，FMD 显著增加（p<0.05）。
本研究表明，针刺治疗高血压患者的急性治疗可改善内皮功能障碍。针刺的有益作用可能对预防高血压患者心血管疾病的进展具有重要的临床意义。然而，针刺治疗的长期作用尚未得到检验。进一步的研究将有必要证明长期针刺治疗是否能持续改善内皮功能障碍。
