[Treatment of 121 heroin addicts with Han's acupoint nerve stimulator]

To observe the Han's Acupoint Nerve Stimulator (HANS) for the treatment of heroin addicts.

One hundred and eighty-one cases of heroin addiction with obvious withdrawal syndrome were selected. Among them, 121 cases were randomly assigned to be treated with HANS, and the other 60 cases was taken as the control group. In the HANS group, patients were treated with HANS from the second day of their admission in the treatment center (when the withdrawal symptoms were obvious), they were given 4 treatments (30 min each) a day at the first 3 days, twice a day for 3 more days, and once a day 7 days later. The total treatment lasted 15 days. The acupoints selected were Hegu (LI4) and Laogong (PC 8) on one hand, Neiguan (PC 6) and Waiguan (SJ 5) on the other hand, and Zusanli (ST 36), Sanyinjiao (SP 6) on both legs. The frequency was 2/100 Hz, the intensities of the stimulations were 12-16 mA on arms and 16-26 mA on legs. All the manipulations in the control group were the same as in the HANS group, except that electrodes were placed at the acupoints without any electrical stimulation.

There was no significant difference (P < 0.05) on the 8 indices (heart rate, body weight, sleeping time, chilling, pain, anxiety, catarrh and craving) observed between the 2 groups before treatment. After the HANS treatment, all the 8 indices improved significantly as compared with those observed before treatment (P < 0.01), while in the control group only a moderate improvement was observed.

HANS is obviously effective in relieving the withdrawal syndrome in heroin addicts.