Electroacupuncture could effectively reduce the suffering and improve the quality of life of rheumatoid arthritis patients. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Effect of adjuvant therapy with electroacupuncture on bone turnover markers and interleukin 17 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
J Tradit Chin Med. 2019 Aug ;39(4):582-586. PMID: 32186107
Chuang Zeng
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture as an adjuvant treatment with first-line medications on bone metabolism biomarkers and interleukin-17 (IL-17) in the peripheral blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
METHODS: Sixty RA patients were randomized into three groups. The control group was treated with methotrexate plus leflunomide (MTX+LEF), the acupuncture group was treated with simple needling plus MTX + LEF, and the patients in the electroacupuncture (EA) group were treated with EA plus MTX + LEF. EA or acupuncture was applied every other day for a total of 10 times over a treatment period of 8 weeks.
RESULTS: In all three treatment groups, serum levels of the bone metabolism markers PICP, N-MID, and B-ALP were elevated and the concentrations of the inflammatory markersβ-CTx, IL-17, CRP, and TRACP-5b were reduced after treatment. These differences were significant for the EA group but not the other groups (P<0.05).
CONCLUSION: EA could effectively reduce the suffering and improve the quality of life of RA patients. It is a promising adjuvant therapy for enhancing the effectiveness of clinical therapeutics.