Congress Abstracts full PDF - International Council of Medical ...

THE CURATIVE EFFECT OF ACUPUNCTURE FOLLOWING I. IMMEDIATE APPLICATION AND II. DELAYED
APPLICATION ON ACUTE SHOULDER PERIARTHRITIS
K. Theodoratou
Acupuncture Private Clinic, Athens, Greece
Object of the study: The purpose of this study is the comparative evaluation of acupuncture technique
effectiveness in two distinguished moments of application. 1.Immediate application, during the first 48 hours, and
2.Delayed application, after one week. 99 cases of acute shoulder periarthritis have been studied. The patients
experienced severe pain (omodynia), and sever motor impairment of the upper limb. All subjects were 36 to 54 years
of age, and they experienced periarthritis for the first time. Treating methods 1.Immediate application of acupuncture
technique during the first 48 hours from the initial appearance of symptoms, followed by another nine sessions of
treatment. 2.Delayed application of acupuncture technique, within a time period of one to two weeks. Another nine
sessions of treatment were to follow. The same treatment method, comprising the combination of the same acupoints,
was applied in both cases. The curative effect was studied regarding the limitation of pain, and mobility restoration.
Four categories were formed, based on the improvement of pain and mobility. Evaluation has been performed
following the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 10th acupuncture session.
Results: The effectiveness is significantly different between the two methods following the 1st, 3rd, and 5th
acupuncture session, as well as the two following sessions, the statistic figures, though, are reduced.
Conclusion: Should acupuncture be performed immediately, as first-hand medical treatment, the following
advantages are attained: 1.The patient is promptly relieved, and there are no mobility problems 2.There is a possibility
that the duration of the treatment, and the relative costs thereof, will be reduced 3.The quantity of the drugs used
will be reduced 4.The amount of time the patient will be kept away from work is reduced.
ACUPUNCTURE AND CANCER
Patrick Triadou, Olivier Martin*
Hospital Necker, Paris, France; *Université Paris Descartes
Introduction: Acupuncture is used as a complementary medicine in many aspects of pathology, but mainly for
treating pain and chronic disease, as well as during pregnancy and for women pelvic pains. Cancer represents a major
goal for public health today, especially as far as quality of life of cancer survivors may be concerned. For this purpose,
we performed a two years study that includes all the Chinese traditional medicine professionals and their patients
suffering from cancer in France. With this study we like to know the reasons why these patients consult acupuncturists
in the context of cancer, the benefits they obtained from this therapy for their quality of life, and the efficacy markers
the professionals used. We like also to appreciate the relationships between acupuncturists and oncologists working
in hospital.
Methods: We performed a sociological study with questionnaires that were distributed to patients and
acupuncturists, and also with individual interviews. Specific questionnaires were elaborated for patients on one hand
and for professionals on the other hand. For the patients, questions were addressed to different items: - reasons for
consulting acupuncturist, communication with the different categories of health professionals involved in the treatment
of cancer, - main changes observed concerning side effects of chemotherapy, quality of life, ability to go back to work
and psychological conditions after acupuncture - socio demographic conditions - knowledge about Chinese traditional
medicine... Questionnaires dedicated to health care professionals include questions on : - the choice to practice
acupuncture and today's knowledge on cancer therapies - the method used to understand cancer from a Chinese
point of view - the number of patients suffering from cancer they treated and the type of cancer involved - the most
important effects they obtained with acupuncture and how they estimated their results and their efficiency (clinical,
biological markers, IRM... - their relationships with oncologists in hospital.... Interviews allow to give many more
information on individual cases and to build a typology of patients as well as of practitioners. These last results
confirm and extend results of questionnaires statistical analysis.
Results: Patients do appreciate very much contact with Chinese traditional medicine professionals, when
compared those with the majority of oncologists taking care of them. They do not have any more the feeling to be
considered as a cancer but as a person. They feel in better condition with acupuncture preventing side effects of
chemotherapy such as vomiting, overtiredness, and offering ability to have enough energy to beneficiate of social life
... They believe that acupuncture must be recommended to others patients suffering from cancer. They appreciate
that chemotherapy could be better endured when acupuncture could be done before chemotherapy treatment. They
often do not inform oncologists that they are treated with acupuncture. Oncologists when questioned do not know what
kind of help could be obtained from other approaches that are not scientific. Acupuncturists some time communicate
with oncologists or general practitioners in charge of the patients. They receive letters with various biological results
and indications on therapy, but in many cases they do not really collaborate with oncologists. The main criterions to
evaluate their efficiency are clinical results concerning overtiredness, vomiting, infections, and on wellbeing, but also
biological results such as blood count. Generally speaking, acupuncturists take care of a few numbers of patients,
except some of them who treat only patients with cancer.
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