[Effect of Acupuncture on Inflammatory Cytokines in Patients with Acute Pelvic Inflammatory Disease].

Objective: To observe the effect of acupuncture on inflammatory indices and symptoms in patients with acute pelvic inflammatory disease, and investigate its mechanism.
Methods: Seventy-nine patients with acute pelvic inflammatory disease were randomly assigned to a control group ( n ＝37) given conventional treatment and an observation group ( n ＝42) given conventional treatment and acupuncture therapy. In the observation group, acupionts of Zhongji(CV 3), Guanyuan(CV 4), Zigong(EX-CA 1), Zusanli(ST 36), Sanyinjiao(SP 6), etc. were selected. Each group received treatment once daily, for a total of 7 days. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α， interleukin (IL)-10 and C-reactive protein (CRP) in the serum, white blood cell (WBC) and neutrophil counts, size of pelvic mass and depth of pelvic effusion, and clinical symptoms were assayed pretreatment and on days 3 and 7.
Results: WBC and neutrophils were significantly decreased after treatment in both groups ( P <0.05), and more in the observation group than in the control group ( P <0.05). After treatment, the size of pelvic mass and depth of effusion were less in both groups ( P <0.05), and the efficacy in the observation group was superior to that in the control group ( P <0.05). In the observation group, serum TNF-α， and CRP on day 3 and day 7 were significantly lower than those before treatment ( P <0.05). Se-rum TNF-α and CRP were significantly down-regulated in the observation group compared with those in the control group on both day 3 and day 7 ( P <0.05). In the observation group, serum IL-10 was higher on both day 3 and day 7 than that before treatment ( P <0.05), and was statistically different from that in the control group on both days ( P <0.05). The clinical efficacy in the observation group was superior to that in the control group (95.24% vs 81.08%, P <0.05).
Conclusion: Acupuncture can regulate the levels of inflammatory markers in patients with acute pelvic inflammatory disease, and improve clinical symptoms.