[Circulatory disorders and acupuncture]

The present study was designed to examine whether acupuncture is useful in the treatment of some disorders of the vascular system as the thromboangiitis obliterans of the extremities, the Raynaud's disease and in the therapy of ulcers by venous stasis. From the data presented it appears that acupuncture is effective in releasing the arterial spasm and especially in increasing the circulation in collateral vessels. In order to prove the efficiency of acupuncture in the above disorders, the response to acupuncture was compared with that obtained by a pharmacological treatment with lumbar paravertebral block.