Therapeutic observation of acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion in treating diarrheapredominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Methods: Seventy-six patients were randomized into two groups: 39 cases in the observation group were intervened by acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion, while 37 cases in the control group by the same acupuncture treatment, once a day, 10 d as a treatment course, for 2 courses in total. The improvements of symptoms were observed at the end of the intervention in both groups. Results: The total effective rate was 89.7% in the observation group versus 67.6% in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture plus turtle-shell-partitioned moxibustion can significantly improve the symptoms of IBS-D, and can produce a more significant efficacy than acupuncture alone. © 2016, Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.