PURPOSE: Injection sclerotherapy for hemorrhoids has been performed for many years. Currently, 5% phenol in almond oil (PAO) and aluminum potassium sulfate and tannic acid (ALTA) are used as the agents. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of the two agents. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted involving 135 patients who underwent injection therapy for grade 3 hemorrhoids for the first time between 2013 and 2014 (PAO, 55 patients; ALTA, 80 patients). The efficacy was established as the proportion (%) of patients without symptoms such as hemorrhage and prolapse one year after treatment. We investigated four factors-sex, age, number of hemorrhoids, and agent-that might have an influence on the efficacy. RESULTS: The efficacies of ALTA and PAO one year after treatment were 75% and 20%, respectively. Only the agent was a significant independent factor (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that ALTA is markedly more useful than PAO for injection sclerotherapy for grade 3 hemorrhoids.
Aluminum* ; Hemorrhage ; Hemorrhoids* ; Humans ; Phenol* ; Potassium* ; Prolapse ; Prunus dulcis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Sclerotherapy* ; Tannins*

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes severe respiratory dysfunction and severely limits patients' daily activities. We report a case of the patient with COPD whose respiratory symptoms were successfully improved by acupuncture. A 70-year-old man visited Meiji University of Oriental Medicine Hospital complaining of dyspnea during exercise on _??_. Despite strictly controlled medication and a regimen of home oxygen therapy (HOT), his general condition continued to worsen. Then a series of acupuncture treatment was started on _??_. The severity of dyspnea of the patient before acupuncture treatment was determined as level V according to Hugh-Jones classification, and spirometry showed severely disturbed respiratory functions (%VC: 63.5%, FEV₁%: 29.4%, PEFR: 84.8 1/min in the morning and 93.5 1/min at night). The basic combination of meridian points for the treatment of the case was LU1 (Zhongfu), CV12 (Zhongwan), CV4 (Guanyuan), LU5 (Chize), and BL13 (Feishu). The acupuncture needles were retained for ten minutes in each session. The single-subject research design (A-B-A method) was applied to detect the specific effect of the acupuncture treatment on the respiratory functions or the symptoms of the subject. “A” and “B” mean “treatment period” and “no treatment period” respectively. After 60 acupuncture treatments during a 14-month period, both the respiratory symptoms and the VAS for dyspnea showed improvement, which were specifically observed during the intervention period. Improvement was also reflected in the level of the Hugh-Jones classification and respiratory function test. It was suggested that acupuncture treatment might be effective for advanced cases of COPD.

The tender points treatment has been widely used for both treatment and diagnosis, but there have been very few studies that have examined its diagnostic usefulness. Thus, the purpose of this study was to clarify the diagnostic importance of tender points. The subject was a patient who had osteoarthritis of the knee of Meiji University of Oriental Medicine Hospital. The relationship between pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) and symptoms in osteoarthritis of the knee (painful knee motion) were evaluated with the Japanese Orthopaedic Association scale (JOA scale), a knee scale and the subject's knee pain diary (starting pain, flexion pain, walking pain and total pain Wong-Baker faces pain rating scale). After 40 acupuncture treatments, improvement was noted in the symptoms and PPTs. The changes in PPTs were related to the symptoms of the knee (flexion and walking pain). This suggests that changes in PPTs (around the knee) are a useful indicator for evaluating knee pain.

Treatment of tender points has widely been used for diagnosis and treatment, but there are few studies elucidating the usefulness of this approach to diagnosing knee pain. This study investigated the diagnostic importance of tender points. The symptoms and the pressure pain threshold (PPT) in osteoarthritis of the knee (pain and motion of knee joint) were measured in 45 patients being treated at the Acupuncture Center of Meiji University of Oriental Medicine. The change in PPT was related to symptoms of knee pain (staircase and flexion pain). It is suggested that changes in PPT around the knee joints are a useful indicator for evaluating knee pain.

[Background/aim] Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders, affecting more than 15 % of Western populations. It is characterized by a wide variety of persistent symptoms (abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating, transit disorders) without any clear organic causes. Because medical treatments are sometimes ineffective, some patients with IBS seek alternative therapies to manage the condition. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical effect of acupuncture treatment in patients with IBS.
[Method] Four patients with IBS were treated with acupuncture according to the way of Traditional Chinese Medicine. We employed reversal single-case study design in which an acupuncture treatment period (“period B”) was alternated with no treatment period (“period A”). Ten or twenty times acupuncture therapies were performed during the “period B” and the length of the “period A” was comparable with the “period B” GSRS, frequency of defecation, softness of the stool, intensity of abdominal pain or abdominal fullness, and POMS were recorded over the periods.
[Results] During the “period B”, three patients showed a remarkable improvement in lower abdominal pain, abdominal fullness and QOL evaluated with GSRS, while the psychological condition evaluated with POMS showed inconsistent changes without a remarkable improvement.
[Conclusion] The result of our study indicated that acupuncture might be useful for the management of IBS.

[Aim] Acupuncture has traditionally been used in Japan in the treatment of bronchial asthma and is being increasingly applied. However, although there are many published studies on acupuncture and asthma, few meet the scientific criteria necessary to prove the effectiveness of acupuncture. Therefore, this study presents the clinical results of acupuncture treatment for adult bronchial asthma.
[Design] Single-subject research design (N-of-1 method).
[Setting] Department of Internal Medicine, Acupuncture and Moxibustion Center, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, Japan.
[Participants] Six patients of both genders (mean age, 49.0 years old) with moderate-to-severe persistent bronchial asthma.
[Intervention] Six patients received 10 sessions of acupuncture treatment (once per week) for 10 weeks. The basic combination of meridian points for the treatment of the patients were LU 1 (Zhongfu), LU 5 (Chize), LU 9 (Taiyan), CV4 (Guanyuan), CV 12 (Zhongwan), BL 13 (Feishu), BL20 (Pishu) and BL23 (Shenshu).
[Measurements] Primary outcome was the symptom of asthma at the end of the 10 treatment sessions. Secondary outcomes were the Dyspnea Visual Analogue Scale (DVAS), respiratory function, Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR), blood, the use of asthma drugs. The effect of the intervention on eosinophils in blood was assessed.
[Main results] Late effects of asthma patients showed significantly better results compared with the base line on outcome measures after the 10 weeks. In this study, symptoms of asthma and dyspnea VAS in patients with asthma were significantly improved by acupuncture.
[Conclusion] This study indicated that acupuncture was effective in asthma symptoms and respiratory functions.

The effects of electrical acupuncture at the patellar tendon and electrical stimulation of the femoral nerve on patellar tendon blood flow were evaluated using laser Doppler flowmetry in anesthetized rats. In most subjects the blood flow in the patellar tendon rapidly decreased for 30 seconds after the start of local electrical acupuncture and then increased above baseline. Changes in blood flow did not necessarily follow changes in arterial blood pressure. Changes in tendon blood flow induced by electrical stimulation of the femoral nerve were similar to those induced by electrical acupuncture at the patellar tendon. Arterial blood pressure and heart rate were not affected by electrical stimulation of the femoral nerve. Phentolamine administration abolished the decreased patellar tendon blood flow seen after initiating electrical acupuncture at the patellar tendon, whereas atropine abolished the increased patellar tendon blood flow seen after terminating electrical acupuncture at the patellar tendon. Furthermore, atropine did not evoke increased blood flow following electrical stimulation of the femoral nerve. These results suggest that the decrease of blood flow seen after initiating electrical acupuncture may be controlled by sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerves and the increase of blood flow following electrical acupuncture may be controlled by cholinergic vasodilator nerves.

[Objective]As fundamental research on the acupuncture treatment to shin-splints, we studied what kind of acupuncture stimulus raises the pain threshold and deep tissue temperature of the periosteal part of the tibia.
[Methods]Twelve healthy subjects (Age: 22 ± 2years old) participated in this study. We recorded how the pain threshold of the periosteum would change under the influence of the kind of stimulus of leaving a needle, sparrow pecking a needle and no stimulation. Simultaneously, we measured the deep tissue temperature near the measured part of pain threshold with a deep tissue thermometer.
[Results]The pain threshold of leaving a needle group rose significantly (p < 0.05) as compared with the control group. The sparrow pecking group showed an upward tendency. There was no significant difference in the deep tissue temperature between each group at all times.
[Conclusion]The leaving the needle technique is suitable for needle stimulus to shin-splints. It was suggested that pain control was expected with a leaving needle stimulus. The needle stimulus did not show a remarkable effect on the reaction of regional circulation.

Objective:It is very important that oxidative stress is estimated for us to understand a player's condition in the field of sports. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether electroacupuncture has an effect on exercise-induced oxidative stress.
Methods:Ten healthy male volunteers participated in both the electroacupuncture (EA) group and the control group in a crossover design. EA at a frequency of 2 Hz and optimum intensity was performed in the subjects for 10 minutes in both the medial vastus muscles. During ergometer exercise by ramp load, respiratory metabolism including the RC point was recorded as the indication of energy metabolism. Blood was collected from the fingertips of the subjects, and then their levels of oxidative stress (d-ROMs test) and antioxidative (BAP test) were determined by using a Free Radical Analytical System (FRAS4, Wismell Instruments). Six measurements were taken;at rest, immediately after EA and following exercise, and at 20, 40, and 60 minutes following exercise.
Results:The RC point was significantly prolonged in the EA group compared with the control group. The level of oxidative stress (d-ROMs test) in the control group increased significantly at 20 minutes following exercise compared with rest (before exercise) and this increase was sustained until 60 minutes after exercise. In contrast, it did not significantly change in the EA group. Whereas the antioxidative level (BAP test) in the EA group significantly increased immediately following exercise compared with rest (before exercise), it did not increase in the control group.
Conclusion:These results suggest that electroacupuncture might enhance the antioxidative level (BAP test) and inhibit the level of oxidative stress (d-ROMs test) by effecting a change in respiratory metabolism. We propose that electroacupuncture might be useful for sports conditioning.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of change in heart rate (HR) response to oxygen uptake (VO₂) during exercise in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).We retrospectively studied 204 patients with CHD who were sent to our exercise testing laboratory between August 1983 and February 1985. The following equation was used to determine the relation between VO₂ and HR during a graded treadmill exercise test: HR= A・exp ^B･VO2, where the constant b was defined as the inclination of the exponential curve-fitting model for oxygen uptake and heart rate during graded treadmill exercise (I-ECOH). Data on mortality were determined in May 2006 by examining medical records from the outpatient clinic and/or conducting telephone interviews with the patients or their families. Among the 204 study subjects, there were 54 cardiac deaths during the entire 20-year follow-up period. Kaplan-Meier survival curves for 20 years of follow-up demonstrated a survival rate of 81.3% for patients with a lower I-ECOH (＜35) and 56.0% for those with a higher I-ECOH (≧35), showing a significant difference in survival (p＜0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), peak oxygen uptake (VO₂ peak) and I-ECOH as independent predictors of survival. In this analysis, the prognostic power of minutes ventilation/carbon dioxide output (VE/VCO₂)slope was insignificant. The patients were divided into two groups with (＜45%) and without (≧60%) LV dysfunction using LVEF for more detailed analysis. The VO₂ peak and VE/VCO₂ slope were significant independent predictors of survival in patients with LV dysfunction. However, the I-ECOH was a significant independent predictor of survival in patients with and without LV dysfunction. Our data indicate that I-ECOH provides independent prognostic information on CHD patients with and without LV dysfunction.