OBJECTIVETo observe therapeutic effects of pricking blood therapy by fire-needle with different bleeding amount on acute gouty arthritis of the foot.

METHODSSix hundred and thirty cases of acute gouty arthritis of the foot were randomly divided into group A, group B and group C according to the visiting sequence. They were treated by fire-needle respectively with 20 mL, 40 mL and 60 mL bleeding amount.

RESULTSThe effective rate in the group A, B and C was respectively 88.1%, 92.8% and 97.6%, the group C being the best, with a very significant difference between the group C and the group A (P < 0.01), and a significant difference between the group C and the group B (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPricking blood therapy is an effective method for acute gouty arthritis of the foot and the therapeutic effect is related with the bleeding amount, the more bleeding amount, the better the therapeutic effect.