BACKGROUND: There are many clinical applications of oral medication in treatment of primary osteoporosis, but there are few reports on integration of point injection and electric acupuncture in treatment of primary osteoporosis. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of intervention with point injection and electric acupuncture on the basis of western drug on primary osteoporosis and to compare the therapeutic effects with simple western medical treatment. DESIGN: Case comparison was designed. SETTING: Hygiene Clinic of Engineering College of Nanjing University of Agriculture and First Affiliated Hospital to Nanjing University of Medical Sciences. PARTICIPANTS: Totally 46 cases of primary osteoporosis were selected from the outpatients in Hygiene Clinic of Engineering College of Nanjing University of Agriculture from April 2000 to June 2004 and all of the cases were in the observation voluntarily. Two groups were randomized according to visiting sequence, named acupuncture+drug group (23 cases), aged (67 +/- 4) years and drug group (23 cases), aged (66 +/- 5) years. METHODS: (1) In acupuncture+drug group, on the basis of medication of alfacalcidol and calcium carbonate, the integrative therapy of point injection and electric acupuncture was applied. Pont injection: Xuesaitong zhusheye was injected on zusanli (ST36), taixi (KI3), sanyinjiao (SP6) and xuanzhong (GB39) 1.67 to 3.33 cm in depth. Two points were selected each time and 2 mL on each point, once/day and the points were injected bilaterally and alternatively. Electric acupuncture: the points were pishu (BL21), shenshu (BL23) and qihaishu (BL24). Electric apparatus was attached on the points after arrival of qi, with continuous wave, 2 Hz, 30 minutes, once a day. One month treatment for either point injection or electric acupuncture was taken as one course. The second course was followed after break for 5 days. Totally, 6 months were required. Western medical treatment: a Vit D3 0.5 mug per day was administrated orally, onceaday and calcium carbonate, 1 tablet, once a day, continuously for 6 months. (2) Drug control: only western drugs were administrated orally and the usage was same as the acupuncture +drug group. The patients in two groups were treated for 6 months. Bone mineral density (BMD) of L2 to L4 and upper end of femur was assayed with x-ray absorptiometry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: BMD of L2 to L4 and upper end of femur before and 6 months after treatment in two groups. RESULTS: All of 46 cases of primary osteoporosis entered result analysis, no dropped out case. (1) Comparison of BMD of lumbar vertebras before and 6 months after treatment in two groups: After 6-month treatment, in acupuncture+drug group, BMD of L2 to L4 was improved significantly (0.829 +/- 0.049, 0.791 +/- 0.043 g/cm2, t = 2.80, p < 0.01) compared with that before the treatment. In drug control, BMD of L2-L4 was improved significantly (0.813 +/- 0.051, 0.788 +/- 0.048 g/cm2, t = 1.71, p < 0.05) compared with that before the treatment. Concerning to the variations of BMD between two groups, the variation in acupuncuture+drug group was more than that in drug control (0.038 +/- 0.020, 0.025 +/- 0.025 g/cm2, t = 1.95, p < 0.05). (2) Comparison of BMD of femur before and 6 months after treatment in two groups: There was no signfficant difference in BMD before and after treatment in two groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with simple Western drug treatment, the integrative therapy of point injection and electric acupuncture improves very significantly BMD of lumbar vertebras, aiming at effective treatment of primary osteoporosis. But the change in BMD of femur is not obvious before and after treatment, which is probably associated with lack of adequate blood circulation in femoral region.

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