Pulse changes in patients with cervical spondylosis before and after acupuncture treatment

OBJECTIVE: To study changes in pulse diagram parameters (PDP) in patients with cervical spondylosis (CS) before and after acupuncture treatment, explore the characteristics of PDP and the relationship between PDP changes and therapeutic effectiveness, and provide evidence for outcome prediction and objective evaluation of CS treatment before and after acupuncture treatment. METHODS: Patients with CS were treated with acupuncture and measured with a pulse acquisition device based on image (PADBI) before the first and after the tenth acupuncture sessions. Changes in PDP from before until after the acupuncture sessions and patient impressions were analyzed to judge the effect of acupuncture treatment for. RESULTS: The PDP values in effective patients were closer to normal values. This indicated that Qi stagnation and blood stasis of the patients was improved. The PDP changes from before to after the first acupuncture treatment were more obvious than those from before to after the tenth acupuncture treatment. This result indicates that the speed of symptom improvement decreased significantly after several acupuncture courses. Analysis of correlation between efficacy and PDP showed that the changes in PDP in five patients was abnormal, which mainly manifested as values of h1, u, p, Pp, and t1, and no significant changes or differences were increased with standard values. This indicated that the symptoms of CS were not improved in these patients. CONCLUSION: PADBI can provide evidence for outcome prediction of acupuncture treatment in patients with CS. PADBI can provide evidence for objective evaluation of acupuncture treatment of CS. (C) 2016 JTCM. All rights reserved.