OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical efficacy and the mechanism of acupoint autohemotherapy in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

METHODSForty-five cases were randomized into an autohemotherapy group (24 cases) and a western medication group (21 cases). In the autohemotherapy group, the acupoint autohemotherapy was applied to the bilateral Dingchuan (EX-B 1), Fengmen (BL 12), Feishu (BL 13), Quchi (LI 11), Zusanli (ST 36) and the others. In the western medication group, loratadine tablets were prescribed. The patients were treated continuously for 3 months in both groups. The clinical symptom score was taken for the assessment of clinical efficacy. The enzyme-linked immunoadsordent assay (ELISA) was adopted to determine the contents of serum interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-12 (IL-12).

RESULTSThe total effective rate was 83.3% (20/24) in the autohemotherapy group, which was obviously superior to 66.7% (14/21) in the western medication group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the clinical symptom scores of patients in the two groups were all reduced. The improvements in the scores of sneezing and clear nasal discharge in the autohemotherapy group were much more significant than those in the western medication group (both P < 0.05). After treatment, the serum IL-12 content of patients in the two groups was all increased to different extents as compared with that before treatment (both P < 0.05). In the autohemotherapy group, the serum IFN-gamma was increased after treatment (P < 0.05). In the western medication group, the serum IFN-gamma was not increased obviously after treatment (P > 0.05). The increase of the above index contents in the autohemotherapy group were more apparent than those in the western medication group (both P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe acupoint autohemotherapy relieves significantly the clinical symptoms of allergic rhinitis and the therapeutic effect is better than that with oral administration of loratadine tablets, which is probably relevant with the increase of serum IL-12 content and the promotion of IFN-gamma synthesis.