OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical effect of early degenerative knee osteoarthritis with cold-damp stagnation treated with electroacupuncture (EA) combined with thunder-fire moxibustion and simple EA.

METHODSEighty cases were randomly assigned into a combination group and an EA group,40 cases in each one. Twenty-five min EA was used in the EA group mainly atpoints,Neixiyan(EX-LE 4),Zusanli(ST 36),Dubi(ST 35),Yanglingquan(GB 34),Yinlingquan(SP 9) and Liangqiu(ST 34) after(arrival),once a day. Based on EA at the same acupoints as the EA group,thunder-fire moxibustion was applied atpoints,Dubi(ST 35)and Liangqiu(ST 34) by means of 20-minute suspended moxibustion,once a day. Ten-day treatment was seen as one course,and continuous 2 courses were applied. The indices were observed before and after treatment including visual analogue scale(VAS) score,Lequesne index score,Lysholm score of knee joint,serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Clinical effects were also evaluated and 6-month follow-up was implemented to show the recurrence rate.

RESULTSAfter treatment the total effective rate of the combination group was 95.0%(38/40),which was better than 82.5%(33/40) of the EA group(<0.05).The Lequesne index score,VAS score,serum CRP and ESR apparently decreased compared with those before treatment in the two groups(all<0.05),and the four indices in the combination group were obviously lower than those in the EA group(all<0.05). As for the Lysholm knee joint score,the good rates of the two groups enhanced after treatment(both<0.05),and the result of the combination group was superior to that of the EA group[87.5%(35/40) vs 72.5%(29/40),<0.05]. At 6-month follow-up,the recurrence rate of the combination group was lower than that of the EA group[26.7%(4/15) vs 100.0%(9/9),<0.05].

CONCLUSIONSEA combined with thunder-fire moxibustion achieve good effect for degenerative knee osteoarthritis with cold-damp stagnation. The combination therapy have advantages in effect duration compared with simple EA.

Objective:To investigate the epidemiological and clinicopathological characteristics of thyroid cancer.Methods:Data of 13 673 thyroid cancer patients admitted to the First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from Jan. 2014 to Dec. 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the admission criteria, 9 662 patients were screened out, including 2 768 males and 6 894 females, with an average age of 43.98±11.28 years. According to the year of diagnosis and treatment, the incidence of thyroid cancer, the changing trend of age of new cases, the average length of hospitalization, the pathological classification of the tumor, the size of the primary tumor, multifocal tumor, and the rate of lymph node metastasis were statistically analyzed. The surgical methods were summarized and discussed.Results:① Characteristics of population economics: the ratio of males to females were 1.00:2.49, the number of cases increased year by year, and the rate of increase of female was higher than that of male. The average age of onset of the patients was (43.98±11.28) years old, and the incidence rate of the young population increased by 6.0%, showing a younger trend. The mean length of hospital stay was (7.21±2.85) d, and the length of hospital stay decreased. ② Clinicopathological features: There were 9 513 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) (98.46%) , 45 cases of follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) (0.47%) , 58 cases of medullary carcinoma (MTC) (0.60%) and 18 cases of poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (PDTC) (0.19%) . There were 2 cases (0.02%) of undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma (ATC) and 26 cases (0.26%) of a particular type. The tumor size was (1.10±0.85) cm, among which the microcarcinoma (D ≤1 cm) accounted for 64.5% and showed an increasing trend year by year, with the fastest growth rate. There were 3 809 cases of multifocal carcinoma (39.4%) , and the proportion of multifocal carcinoma increased year by year in recent 3 years. The central region and lateral region lymph node metastasis rates were 33.0% and 13.0%, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that the differences were statistically significant except for pathological types ( P<0.05) . ③ Surgical methods: in the first 3 years, 2 224 patients (84.2%) underwent normative primary resection, which increased to 94.9% in the last 3 years. In the first 3 years, 2 033 patients (77.0%) underwent central lymph node dissection, which increased to 91.8% in the last 3 years. In the first 3 years, 188 cases (50.5%) underwent normative lateral cervical dissection, which increased to 71.6% in the last 3 years. Conclusions:The incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing year by year, showing a younger trend; Papillary carcinoma accounts for 98.5% of thyroid cancer. The proportion of microcarcinoma and multifocal carcinoma is increasing. The rate of lymph node metastasis in the central region and lateral region is increasing; surgery is gradually standardized, and it is necessary to standardize the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer and postoperative follow-up.