Acupuncture for immune-mediated disorders

CVD due to cerebral-arteriosclerosis, infarct: Clinical signs and symptoms in such cases are often reversible. Many such cases have kidney or bladder problems. When these are treated successfully, cerebral functions improve. (Kidney and bladder problems may be the cause of the cerebral signs and symptoms). Headaches may be caused by pelvic, gonadal, vesical or renal problems. Somatic pathology may cause spinal and central signs which resemble arteriosclerosis (361). AP is 60-98% effective in improving organ function in patients diagnosed as infarcted or arteriosclerotic (362-364).

As part of a multiple-modality treatment in cerebral trauma, concussion, AP helped to normalise vegetovascular function (365) and improved 72% of cases (366).

Sequelae of cerebral birth injury include blindness, deafness, paralysis and muscle spasms. AP at BL01,02; ST02; LV03; LI04; GB20,37 cured 100% of children with cortical blindness (367). Brain-damaged children were helped by acupressure (368) and Scalp EAP helped 94% of cerebral palsy cases (356).

Points for spinal disorders (disc disease, spondylitis, paralysis from oedema or bleeding in the cord etc) include Trigger Points (TPs), local points, key points such as: BL40 and GB34 for lumbar spine (369); GV14, BL40 for thoracic spine; SI03, ST38 for cervical spine. SI03 and the "Loo Point" alone or with other points (especially GV points and Source points) has been up to 90% successful for diseases of all parts of the spinal cord, including pain; paraesthesia; tremors; paralysis in polio or trauma (261).

ONCOLOGY, CANCER THERAPY, CHEMOTHERAPY AND RADIATION SICKNESS: Immunocompetence is decreased in cancer (370-372). Chemo- and radio- therapy may depress it still further (373). Therapy which enhances local or general immune response or influence local microclimate may influence metabolism in neoplastic tissue. Direct application of heat, cold, ionizing radiation or chemicals to cancerous tissue changes its micro-environment. Electrothermal needling of transplantable carcinoma in mice cured 50-88% and 70-90% of tumours regressed (374). Direct current applied to cancerous tissue shows promise (375). Aberrant cells are killed selectively (cytotoxic effect) or replication is halted. Local lysis, change of local ionic composition, peripheral micro-thrombosis, reduced fuel- or blood- supply to the cancer and activation of humoral and local cellular immune responses (chemotaxis, phagocytosis etc) may be involved. AP, LLLT, moxa and herbs have a role as a primary or secondary therapy in cancer (376-379). AP increased immune responses (370,372,376,380,381), normalised ERFC and counteracted the immunosuppressive effect of radiotherapy (372,373). Laser-AP promoted immune responses and gave direct and indirect results in cancer therapy (382). Microwave-AP was more effective that chemotherapy. It had marked therapeutic effect on leucopenia resulting from radio-therapy (381). AP helps differential diagnosis of cancer (383). AP, EAP, point injection, TENS etc can give analgesia in patients with cancer pain (384-389), even when physiotherapy, conventional analgesia, radiation- and chemo-therapy give little or no relief (390,391) or when narcotic analgesia causes undesirable side effects (386,387,391,392). They can also control secondary symptoms (384,392). AP analgesia was used successfully to facilitate radiosurgical therapy of cancer (insertion of radium needles in neoplasms of the oral cavity). Post-op analgesia lasted 24-48 hours. Local tissue healing was enhanced (393). Side-effects of cancer therapy (oncosurgery, cytotoxic anticancer drugs, radio-sensitizing drugs and ionizing radiation) may be so severe as to hinder the patient's treatment (394). The side-effects can be treated or prevented by AP, EAP, moxa or LLLT therapy (31,246,394-399). Radiation sickness can be treated or prevented successfully by AP, EAP and moxa (12-16,400, 401).

The following is an example of new claims from Chinese sources: 2% cesium chloride cream was applied to the AP points. The plaster was renewed every 2-3 days. The method was used in >2500 cases, including pain, trauma, chronic rhinitis, asthmatic bronchitis, enuresis and primary hypertension. It gave results similar to those of AP and therapeutic effects usually appeared in 15-30 minutes when the correct points were treated (296). Similar success was reported in 70 cases of pain and skin diseases when lithium chloride cream was applied to AP points or to the lesion, or when cream with 20% urea was applied to painful areas or skin lesions and in 80 cases of anal fissures or colic due to intestinal fissure when suppositories containing 100 mg urea were used (188). Oral or rectal lithium was effective in meno-metrorrhagia, acute dysentery, rectitis, colitis, anal fissure, haemorrhoids, constipation, mild precordial pain, colic due to intestinal adhesion, bipolar affective disorders, granulopenia, shoulder pain but had no effect in backpain and acute cystitis. Lithium, cesium and urea are acetyl choline esterase (AChE) activators. Their clinical effects may be mediated by the biphasic AChE-activation system. AP Channels and Points may be an interconnecting network of tissue rich in AChE isoenzymes and receptors and clinical effects of AP are mediated by that system (188, 402).