Acupuncture Induced Immunoregulatory Influence on the Clinical State of A Patients Suffering from Chronic Spastic Bronchitis and Undergoing Long-Term Treatment with Corticosteroids

Abstract

36 patients suffering from chronic spastic bronchitis were treated with acupuncture. The patient group consisted of 13 men and 23 women varying in age from 26 to 64 years, with an average age of 42, 3 years. The therapy consisted of two or three months of acupuncture treatment in alternation with an equal period (2 or 3 months) of recess during which no treatment was administered. Before acupuncture, patients had taken corticosteroids either orally and/or intramuscularly for a period of 2 to 24 years. For those taking corticosteroids orally the daily dosages ranged from 10 to 40 mg Encorton (Polfa, Poland). The patients took intramuscular injections of 40 to 60 mg Kenalog (Squibb) every three or four weeks. Acupuncture sessions were twice a week. All the patients had 42 acupuncture sessions. Before the treatment all the patients, and 30 healthy volunteers, made leukocytes migration tests [(in vivo, using the Rebuck method (1) as modified by Southam (2)].* It was found that patients suffering from chronic spastic bronchitis have leukocytes migration defect. This defect increases in patients who have taken corticosteroids. We have also found that after 42 acupuncture sessions the amount of leukocytes in the tissue pool comes close to the value found in healthy persons during leukocyte migration. [(tested in vivo, using the Rebuck method as modified by Southam (2)].

*

Granulocyte migration test by Southam, C. M., Levine, A. G.. A small area on the volar surface of one forearm is cleansed with alcohol and anesthetized by ethyl chloride spray. An area roughly 1 cm. in diameter is then abraded, by scraping with a number 21 Bard Parker scalpel blade while the skin is stretched taut, until the dermal papillae are seen as tiny red spots. This is sufficient to induce an exudative reaction without bleeding. To this point the technic is identical with the method used in this laboratory for the standard qualitative type of Rebuck “skin window” technic, but instead of applying a microscope cover glass directly to the abraded area, a small flat cuplike vessel containing a physilogic salt solution is applied so that exuded cells pass directly into the fluid.