[Review of acupuncture treatment for chronic pharyngitis]

A search in the database of CNKI and VIP access was performed to gather relevant literature about acupuncture treatment for chronic pharyngitis to evaluate and analyze the present situation of clinical research. The results indicate that the combination therapy is the major treatment for chronic pharyngitis, especially in the combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbs. There is great progress in clinic research in which proper scientific methodology was adopted. However, it demands further improvement in research quality, cases quality, diagnostic criteria, evaluation standard of efficacy, quality control and effectiveness of treatment. The research design of investigating mechanism is in accordance with traditional theory of TCM. The results suggest that new ideas and innovative approaches and valuable observation indices should be applied to improve research level.