[Effect of acupuncture on hemorheology in patients with diabetic nephropathy]

To explore the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in treating diabetic nephropathy (DN) by observing the effect of acupuncture on blood rheology of DN.

A total of 54 cases of DN patients were randomly divided into control (n=24) and acupuncture group (n=30). Patients of control group were treated with diet-control, oral administration of Gliguidone (30-60 mg, t. i. d.) or subcutaneous injection of insulin, and those of acupuncture group treated with the same medication as those of control group and additional manual acupuncture stimulation of Ganshu (BL18), Pishu (BL20), Zusanli (ST 36), etc., once daily for 30 days. Hemorheology was detected with LBY-N6A Automatic Hemorheological Analyser. The treatment duration in 2 groups was 30 days.

After the treatment, of the 24 and 30 cases in control and acupuncture groups, 6 (25.0%) and 16 (53.3%) cases experienced remarkable improvement in their symptoms; 10 (41.6%) and 12 (40.0%) had improvement, 8 (33.3%) and 2 (6.7%) failed, with the effective rates being 66.7% and 93.3% respectively. Self-comparison showed that after the treatment, no significant changes were found in lower shear rate (LSR) and higher shear rate (HSR) of whole blood viscosity, plasma viscosity (etap), hematocrit (HCT) and profibrin in control group; while LSR of whole blood viscosity, etap and profibrin in acupuncture group decreased significantly (P<0.05). The therapeutic effect of acupuncture group was significantly superior to that of control group in lowering LSR of whole blood viscosity and profibrin (P<0.05).

Acupuncture can improve DN patients' clinical symptoms and blood rheology, and hence, has a certain effect in postponing the development of DN.