Objective: To observe the efficacy of acupuncture at phenomaxillary ganglia and local acupoints for symptoms induced by allergic rhinitis (AR).
Methods: Fifty AR patients were randomly divided into treatment group (n=26) and control group (n=24). Patients of the treatment group were treated by needling in phenomaxillary ganglia, and then at Yingxiang (LI 20,bilateral) and Yintang (EX-HN 3) for 20 min,twice per week with a total treatment period of 4 weeks. Needling in left and right phenomaxillary ganglia was alternately performed. Patients in the control group were treated with oral loratadine tablets for 4 weeks. The clinical efficacy, AR symptoms score and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score were assessed before and after the treatment.
Results: The total clinical efficacy of the treatment and control groups was 76.91% (20/26) and 54.17% (13/24), respectively, the therapeutic effect of the treatment group was obviously superior to that of the control group (P<0.05). In the treatment group, both symptoms and VAS scores were lower after treatment compared with those before treatment(P<0.01)and those in the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Needling in phenomaxillary ganglia and local points is effective in relieving AR-induced symptoms.