Needling neiguan (P 6) for treatment of low pulse pressure syndrome : A report of 31 cases

Objective: To observe the impact of needling Neiguan (P 6) on the cardiovascular functional status in low pulse pressure syndrome. Method: 49 eligible patients were randomly assigned to a acupuncture group with bilateral Neiguan (P 6) needled for successive 3 days, and a medication group given a daily 20 mL of Shenmai Injectio intravenously dripped for successive 6 days. The blood pressure, pulse pressure, stroke volume (SV), cardiac output(CO)/min, left ventricle work index (LVWI) , mean arterial pressure (MAP), total peripheral resistance (TPR), coronary perfusion pressure (CPP), pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP), effective blood volume (BV), blood viscosity (N), microcirculation half renewal rate (MHR), and cardiac muscle blood volume (CMBV) were determined before and after the treatment, which were compared with the parameters obtained in 23 healthy subjects. Results: The decreased pulse pressure of all patients before treatment (P<0.01) increased significantly after treatment (P<0.001). The levels of SV, CO, LVWI, PAWP, BV, MHR and CMBV were lowed when compared with the healthy subjects before treatment (P<0.01), but all of them significantly increased after treatment (P<0.01). The increased CPP, TPR and N before treatment (P<0.01) were decreased after treatment (P<0.01). Conclusion: The therapeutic effect of acupuncture at point Neiguan (P 6) was better than medication though some of the indexes showed no significant difference (P<0.05).