A Preliminary Study on Warm Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Treating Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with Abdominal Distension

Summary

Here, we present a protocol to properly manipulate warm acupuncture and moxibustion for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with abdominal distension.

Abstract

Most patients with COPD have a combination of abdominal distension, which has been shown to adversely affect pulmonary symptoms, frequency of acute exacerbations, and quality of life in patients with COPD. Warm acupuncture and moxibustion have been shown to be effective in relieving symptoms in patients with COPD combined with abdominal distention. Warm acupuncture and moxibustion are highly effective, easy to perform, and inexpensive forms of traditional Chinese medicine treatments. The standardized practice of warm acupuncture and moxibustion is very important for the treatment of COPD combined with abdominal distension. The specific steps include selecting the appropriate acupoints for needling through syndrome differentiation treatment and selecting moxa sticks of appropriate length for moxibustion for about 30 min after the De-qi. The course of treatment lasts for one week. The following indicators are specifically assessed: the score of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and the abdominal distension visual analog scale (VAS). This article will clearly illustrate how to standardize the manipulation of warm acupuncture and moxibustion to relieve COPD combined with abdominal distention.

Introduction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic consumptive disease of the respiratory system. Patients with COPD mainly manifest in chronic cough and sputum, with the progressive development of the disease and gradual decline in lung function. The disease may be complicated by chronic pulmonary cardiac disease, respiratory failure, and heart failure in the later stages of the disease, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. It is reported that alterations in gut microbiota are associated with disease progression in COPD¹. In addition to pulmonary symptoms, 40.31% of patients with stable COPD reported abdominal....

Protocol

The clinical study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Clinical Research Approval Committee of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Record No. KY 2022010).

1. Equipment preparation

1. Prepare disposable sterile acupuncture needles (size 0.25 mm x 40 mm), moxa sticks (size 1.2 cm x 1.2 cm), medical sterilization swabs, iodophor swabs, lighter, and several 60 mm x 60 mm cardboards (see

Discussion

It is well known that the pathogenesis of abdominal distension caused by COPD is not fully understood, which hinders the development of new therapies and drugs. In recent years, warm acupuncture and moxibustion have been widely applied to COPD combined with abdominal distention.The therapeutic mechanism of warm acupuncture and moxibustion is mainly the effect of acupuncture, the moxibustion warming effect, and the heat-conducting effect of the needle body³¹. Moxibustion focuses on the local warmin.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Moxa stick	Dr. Moxi	N/A	size: 1.2 cm x 1.2 cm
Disposable sterile acupuncture needle	HWATO	2001-0020	size:  0.25 mm x 40 mm
Iodophor swabs	BEIJIAER	20162140536
Cardboard	In-house	In-house	size: 60 mm x 60 mm