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Research Archive
Welcome to our Chinese medicine and acupuncture research news pages. We add to the content of these pages continuously as more research news comes in. Browse through the complete archive below or use the category links on the right.
Please note that the most twenty recent research archive items are free to view but access to the thousands of items in the archive require a journal subscription.
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Chinese medicine as good as drugs for ulcerative colitis
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A Chinese herbal medicine containing Ku Shen (Radix Sophorae flavescentis) has been shown to be as effective as the anti-inflammatory drug mesalamine for treating ulcerative colitis (UC).
Acupuncture plus relaxation help GI symptoms in HIV patients
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders, HIV / AIDS
Combining acupuncture and the relaxation response has synergistic beneficial effects on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in HIV patients who are using highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).
Digestive herbal formulae have antacid effect in vitro
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders, Herb research
Two Chinese herbal formulae have been found to have antacid effects in an artificial stomach model.
Acupuncture eases pain of rectal distension
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders, Miscellaneous disorders
A Hong Kong study has found that electroacupuncture can reduce the discomfort of rectal distension, suggesting that it may be useful during colonoscopy procedures.
Hemp Seed Pill eases constipation
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders, Herb research
Hemp Seed Pill (HSP, [Ma Zi Ren Wan]) can improve the symptoms of patients suffering from functional constipation (FC). Researchers from Hong Kong carried out a rigorously designed two-part study to assess the efficacy of HSP in treating FC. In trial I, involving 96 subjects, the optimal dosage of HSP was determined from among three doses (2.5g, 5.0g and 7.5g, twice daily). A dose of 7.5g twice da ...
Acupuncture more effective than drugs for gastric emptying
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A German study has demonstrated that acupuncture is more effective than drug therapy for the treatment of delayed gastric emptying in critically ill patients who are being fed by nasogastric tube.
Acupuncture for post-operative gastroparesis
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
Chinese researchers have shown that acupuncture can improve post-operative gastroparesis (PGS), a common complication of abdominal surgery, in which the motility of the stomach is either abnormal or absent. Sixty-three patients were randomised to either acupuncture or metoclopramide (the standard drug treatment for PGS). Patients in the acupuncture group were needled once daily at Zusanli ST-36 an ...
'Dragon's blood' kills stomach ulcer bug
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders, Herb research
Researchers in China have identified the active ingredients of 'dragon's blood', a resin derived from the herb Xue Jie (Draconis Sanguis), which are responsible for its beneficial effects on peptic ulcers and ability to stop bleeding. Twenty-two different compounds identified from the powdered stems of the plant were tested for effects on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the bacterium known to cau ...
SERUM CORRELATES OF ACUPUNCTURE PLACEBO EFFECT IN IBS
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A US group has discovered two measurable biological parameters associated with the placebo response to acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In a previous study by the same group, patients with IBS were randomised to either placebo treatment (using a sham acupuncture device at non-acupoints) or a no-treatment group (waitlist). The new study involved testing a panel of 10 serum biomarkers ...
Acupuncture for IBS/2
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A sizeable trial investigating the ability of acupuncture to relieve symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has found that both real and sham acupuncture resulted in significant symptom reduction.
Acupuncture for IBS
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A small randomised, sham/placebo-controlled pilot study assessing the effect of individualised TCM acupuncture and moxibustion (AcuMoxa) treatment on symptom control of IBS patients found that it showed promise as a treatment.
Acupuncture for faecal incontinence
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
Italian researchers have carried out a pilot study to investigate the effect of acupuncture on faecal incontinence.
Acupuncture better than more heartburn drugs
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
If proton pump inhibitors fail to control the symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, current standard management is to double the drug dose, despite limited therapeutic gain.
Acupuncture for gastrointestinal diseases
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A systematic review has assessed the evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in gastrointestinal diseases.
Acupuncture for ulcerative colitis
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
In a prospective, randomised, controlled clinical trial, 29 patients with mild to moderately active ulcerative colitis were randomly assigned to receive either traditional acupuncture and moxibustion, or sham acupuncture consisting of superficial nee ...
ACUPUNCTURE & THE GASTRIC SPHINCTER
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
Inappropriate relaxation of the muscular lower oesophageal sphincter (LES) is associated with gastric reflux and heartburn.
ACUPUNCTURE & CROHN'S DISEASE
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
In a single blind controlled trial of 51 patients with mild to moderately active Crohn's disease, 27 were randomly assigned to receive traditional acupuncture, and 24 to receive sham acupuncture at non-points.
ACUPUNCTURE & COLONOSCOPY
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
In order to determine whether acupuncture can reduce the discomfort and anxiety of colonoscopy, 30 patients were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or no acupuncture.
ACUPUNCTURE FOR CROHN'S DISEASE
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
A recent trial of traditional acupuncture for the treatment of Crohn's disease carried out at the University of Nuremberg has shown it to be statistically more effective than sham acupuncture.
BOWEL OBSTRUCTION & ACUPUNCTURE
Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders
Writing in the journal Medical Acupuncture, Martha Grout MD describes 2 cases of small bowel obstruction treated by acupuncture.