37 cases of skin pruritus were treated by acupuncture and cupping method. After two courses of the treatments, the total effective rate was 94.6%.

Objective To investigate the effect of levosimendan on pulmonary artery pressure in patients with pulmonary hypertension undergoing mitral valve replacement.Methods Twenty-four ASA Ⅱ or Ⅲ and NY-HA class Ⅱ or Ⅲ patients,aged 35-60 yr,with mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) ＞ 30 mm Hg,undergoing mitral valve replacement were randomly divided into 2 groups (n =12 each):control group (group C) and levosimendan group (group L).In group L,a loading dose of levosimendan 24 μg/kg was injected intravenously after aortic unclamping,followed by infusion of levosimendan at a rate of 0.2 μg· kg-1 · min-1 until 1 d after operation.Group C received the equal volume of normal saline.HR,MAP,MPAP,pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP),cardiac index (CI) were recorded at 5 min after induction (T0),at the end of CPB (T1) and at 1 h after operation (T2),and the pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and rate-pressure product (RPP) were calculated.The improvement in pulmonary hypertension was recorded.Results PCWP was significantly lower and CI higher at T1,2 in both groups,and HR was significantly higher at T1,2 and MPAP lower at T2 in group C,and MPAP and PVR were significantly lower at T1,2 in group L than at T0 (P ＜ 0.05).HR,MPAP and PVR were significantly lower and CI was significantly higher at T1,2,RPP was significantly lower at T2 and the improvement in pulmonary hypertension was higher in group L than in group C (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Levosimendan can improve pulmonary hypertension without increasing the myocardial oxygen consumption and with a significant increase in myocardial contractility in patients with pulmonary hypertension undergoing mitral valve replacement.