Rabu, 28 Januari 2009

Treatment of acute sore throat with bloodletting therapy

By: Zhang Hong

Acute sore throat is a commonly seen disease in the clinic, presenting as acute tonsillitis, acute laryngitis, etc. It is caused by bacterial or viral infection in the region of the throat and is characterised mainly by a sore throat and difficulty in swallowing due to severe pain in the throat.

Some patients have fever and physical weakness. If treated too late or improperly, some patients may develop chronic pharyngitis or secondary myocarditis, nephritis, arthritis, etc. The author has adopted a method of bloodletting therapy to treat 148 patients with acute sore throat. The report is as follows.

1. Clinical data

Of 148 cases, 61 were male and 87 female, with an age ranging from 2 to 65 years and an average age of 37 years. The course of the disease was from 1 to 7 days, averaging 2.9 days. All of the patients had sore throat with severe pain on swallowing, and examination showed a hyperaemic and swollen throat. 56 of the cases were accompanied by fever and weakness, and white blood cell count was raised in 47.

2. Therapeutic method

Point selection: Shaoshang LU-11, Shangyang L.I.-1.

Manipulation: After sterilising the selected points on both hands, the points were rapidly pricked with a three-edged needle which was immediately removed. After that, swqueezing was applied to encourage bleeding of about 10 drops of stagnant blood from the punctured hole. Usually, the first few drops of blood are dark, which shows excess of pathogenic heat in the channel. The bleeding is encouraged until the dark-red blood becomes light-red, which indicates the excess of pathogenic heat has been discharged from the channel. The treatment is given once daily, with one to three treatments to a course.

3. Therapeutic results

88 cases (59.5%) were fully recovered (disappearance of clinical symptoms) after one treatment, 32 (21.6%) after two treatments, and 17 (11.5%) after three treatments. 11 cases (7.4%) were unchanged or worse after three treatments.

4. Case examples

* Gao, male, 8 years old, had a sore throat and severe pain on swallowing, with fever, chills and weakness for 2 days. His temperature was 38.9?C. His throat was hyperaemic and swollen and his tonsils were enlarged. His white blood cell count was 10.5g/L. The patient had taken some antibiotics with no improvement. After a single bloodletting treatment, the patient experienced relief of the sore throat and his temperature was reduced to 37.1?C by the evening. By the next day all of the clinical symptoms had disappeared and the white blood cell count was reduced to normal (5.6g/L).

* Wang, female, 39 years old, had suffered from a sore throat for about one week, with difficulty in swallowing due to severe pain in the throat, but without fever. An examination found the throat to be reddened and swollen. White blood cell count was normal. The patient had taken many drugs and ultra-short wave treatment with no improvement. After a single treatment with bloodletting therapy, she experienced immediate relief of the sore throat. After a further treatment, all symptoms had disappeared.

5. Discussion

Traditional Chinese medicine holds that acute, reddened, swollen, sore throat and fever mainly result from heat pathogen in the Lung channel of hand-taiyin and the Large Intestine channel of hand-yangming burning upwards to the throat. The treatment method is to reduce heat and relieve pain by bloodletting (reducing method). Shaoshang LU-11 and Shangyang L.I.-1 are the jing-well points of the Lung and Large Intestine channels respectively. These points can eliminate heat from the channel, whilst bloodletting therapy can reduce heat and dredge the channel. After three treatments most patients have their symptoms relieved or eliminated. Generally the white blood cell count is reduced to a normal level within one or two days.

This method has the advantages of simple application and no side effects. However it is not a desirable method for treating chronic pharyngitis, suppurative tonsillitis or peritonsillar abscess.

Zhang Hong M.D. works at The Acupuncture Department, General Air Force Hospital, 30 Fuchen Road, Beijing 1000036, China.

by Zhang Hong

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