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 distention. Abdominal distension can have a significant impact on worsening pulmonary symptoms, increasing the frequency of acute exacerbations of COPD, and impairing the quality of life of patients with stable COPD^2,3. The causes of abdominal distension in COPD are considered to be multifactorial which may include as follows: (1) dysbiosis of bacteria; (2) ascites, which increases intra-abdominal pressure; (3) electrolyte disturbances; (4) right heart failure and congestion of the liver or digestive tract; (5) prolonged bed rest⁴; (6) medications⁵ and mechanical ventilation⁶.

Some Chinese medicine scholars have proposed that the development process of COPD is the process of four states:(1) lung qi deficiency; (2) spleen qi deficiency; (3) kidney qi deficiency; (4) Yin and yang deficiency^7,8. If the spleen fails to transport and transform and the stomach is weak and unable to receive, abdominal distension may occur, which in turn can lead to muscle thinning and weakness due to the lack of chemical sources⁹. At present, the drugs commonly used in the clinical treatment of COPD include bronchodilators, glucocorticoids, antibiotics, and other drugs¹⁰. There are no guidelines specifying standardized treatment protocols for COPD combined with abdominal distention, which is often treated symptomatically.

Warm acupuncture and moxibustion in traditional Chinese medicine can guide Qi to dredge the meridians, invigorate blood circulation, remove blood stasis, replenish deficiency to warm yang, and dissipate cold. They can produce antioxidant substances and thus play a regulatory role, which can promote immune system stress response and improve blood circulation^11,12. Warm acupuncture and moxibustion can be used to treat cervical spondylosis¹³, knee arthritis¹⁴, dysmenorrhea¹⁵, constipation¹⁶, irritable bowel syndrome¹⁷, and so on. Experimental studies have turned out that acupuncture can relieve abdominal distension by regulating the brain-gut axis¹⁸. Acupuncture combined with moxibustion significantly reduces abdominal distention¹⁹, which may be exerted through the regulation of plasma prostaglandin E2 and gastrin levels in plasma and gastric mucosal tissues²⁰. Meanwhile, warm acupuncture and moxibustion are superior to prokinetics and sham acupuncture in terms of improving the symptoms of functional dyspepsia²¹. Acupuncture can strengthen the diaphragm and relieve respiratory muscle fatigue, as well as improve carbon dioxide retention, and hypoxia, and prevent and relieve respiratory failure²². Warm acupuncture and moxibustion improve lung function, clinical symptoms, and quality of life in patients with stable COPD^23,24.

According to the theory of Chinese medicine that "The lung stands in interior-exterior relationship with the large intestine", the warming acupuncture and moxibustion treatment used in this study aim to promote the recovery of gastrointestinal function and improve pulmonary function and quality of life. Warm acupuncture and moxibustion are highly effective, easy to perform, and inexpensive forms of traditional Chinese medicine treatments. In conclusion, it is necessary to propose a standard protocol on how to properly operate the use of warm acupuncture and moxibustion to relieve COPD with abdominal distension. This article describes how to properly manipulate the use of warm acupuncture and moxibustion treatment to relieve COPD with abdominal distension.

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 Figure 1).

2. Doctor preparation

1. Ensure that patients meet the diagnostic criteria for COPD in the Primary Care Guidelines for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and have abdominal distension.
2. Exclude patients with the following conditions:(1) those with skin ulceration, poor glycemic control, poor blood pressure control, and dizziness; (2) those with silicosis, tuberculosis, malignant tumors, asthma, coagulation disorders, and severe cardiac insufficiency; (3) those with rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, renal failure, liver failure, and so on; (4) those with poor compliance.
3. Wear a medical mask and hat.
4. Wash the hands with soapy water, leave them dry, and use alcohol hand sanitizer before holding the needle to operate.

3. Patient preparation

1. Ask the patient to empty the bladder.
2. Measure the patient's blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation.
3. Make sure the skin is not damaged and festering.
4. After the above basic signs are normal, instruct the patient to choose the supine or prone position to expose the acupuncture points.
5. Advise the patient to inform the physician in case of discomfort during the procedure.

4. Acupoints selection

1. Wipe the skin of the sites to be needled with Iodophor swabs.
2. According to the standardized acupuncture points, choose Feishu (BL13), Taiyuan (LU9), Dingchuan (EX-B1), Zusanli (ST36), Zhongwan (RN12), Tianshu (ST25)^24,25,26 (see Figure 2).

5. Acupuncture and needling manipulation

1. Stretch out flat the five fingers of the left hand, and place apart the index and middle fingers at the place of stabbing.
2. Hold the needle handle by the thumb and index finger of the right hand, the end of the middle finger is close to the point, and the finger belly is against the needle body.
3. Press downward the thumb and index finger while the middle finger is flexed and insert the needle into the international standardized acupuncture angles and depths.
4. Uniformly lift and thrust the needle handle along the acupuncture angle, the depth is about 3 mm, and the frequency is about 60 times/min²⁷.
5. Rotate the needle handle forward and backward at an angle of 180 degrees or less; the frequency is about 60 times/min until the patient feels De-qi²⁷.

6. Place moxa sticks

1. Lit the moxa sticks from the bottom 2-3 cm from the skin²⁸ so that the patient has a warm sensation and redness on the body surface. Treatment takes about 30 min.

7. Place cardboards

1. Place the 60 mm x 60 mm cardboard under the moxa sticks to prevent the ash from burning the skin until the moxa sticks burn out (see Figure 3).

8. Picking the needles

1. Gently pick up the burned-out moxa sticks with the end of the bamboo swab.
2. Gently apply pressure to the needle sites with medical sterilization swabs in the hand.
3. Do a small twist with the needles and slowly lift them to the subcutaneous, leave them for a moment, and then remove them.
4. After the needles come out, use medical sterilization swabs to lightly press the needle holes for a moment to prevent bleeding and reduce pain.
5. After the needles are withdrawn, carefully check whether the needle holes are bleeding, ask the patient whether there is any discomfort, and check whether the number of needles is missing.

Results

General conditions
A total of 12 patients (Table 1) with COPD combined with abdominal distension were divided into observation and control groups, with 6 cases in each group, respectively. All met the diagnostic criteria of the ''Primary Care Guidelines for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (2018)''²⁹ and had abdominal distension. The control group was given pseudo-needling. We chose the same acupoints as the observation group and inserte...

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