Literature Character Of Acupuncture In Treating Chronic Prostatitis Based On Modern Clinical Literature

ObjectiveTo explore the metrological characteristics, research trends, principles of acupoint selections, and the treatment effectiveness as documented in modern clinical literature on using acupuncture for treating chronic prostatitis.MethodsThrough online search via Chinese journal full-text databases (CNKI), Chinese periodical databases (VIP), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service platform(WanFangDate) and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), a database was established by collecting the literature on using acupuncture for treating chronic prostatitis on a selective basis. The database was imported into excel for metrological analysis. SPSS 19.0 was used for word clustering analysis to identify the current research trends. IBM SPSS Modeler 14.1 was used for correlational analysis to analyze the patterns among acupoint selections. Review Manager 5.2 was used for statistical meta-analysis.ResultsThe finalized database that the current research analysis is built on includes 101 research articles, the oldest one dated back to 1995. During the last two decades,2011 had seen the largest number of research articles published. Overall the number of new articles has been increasing, with 21 published between 1995 and 2003,47 between 2004 and 2010, and 33 between 2011 and 2015. A total of 88 first author’s affiliations are involved, with the top frequently-occurring affiliation being Hunan University of Chinese Medicine. The database involves 54 periodicals. The top three, publishing 35 articles that account for 34.65% of articles published in all the 54 periodicals, are Chinese Acupuncture, Journal of Clinical Acupuncture and Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture. Seventeen articles, or 16.83 percent of the entire database, involved research funded by institutes at the provincial level or below.A total of 481 keywords were retrieved from the 101 articles. Twenty-seven high frequency keywords were selected for cluster analysis, which shows that keywords such as Yinlingquan, sagging distention in the perineum, Huiyang tend to co-occur, keywords such as Point, Baihuanshu usually occur together, keywords warm needle acupuncture, chronic nonbacterial prostatitis, control observation, clinical observation, elongated needle, acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, lecithin body, neutral supplementation and draining method, chronic prostatitis, acupuncture, observation of curative effect, acupoint catgut embedding, chronic pelvic pain syndrome, therapy, chronic, prostatitis, electro-acupuncture, auricular point, acupuncture and moxibustion, Zhi bian, NIH-CPSI tend to cluster together.A total of 84 acupuncture points, which were mentioned 614 times, are involved in the literature under investigation. Among these acupuncture points, 18 are high frequently used, which following a frequency descending order are respectively Zhongji, Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao, Zhibian, Shenshu, Qihai, Ciliao, Yinlingquan, Pangguanshu, Shuidao, Zusanli, Huiyin, Taichong, Taixi, Qugu, Huiyang, Zhongliao, and Guilai. The selected meridians are mainly bladder, Ren and spleen meridian, the use of which is 75.73 percent of the total frequency of acupoint selections. The most frequently selected acupoints are chest and lower limbs, which were used in the literature for 213 and 183 times, respectively, followed by the acupoint of hip which was used for 116 times. Of all the acupoints used in the investigated research studies,33 were specific and used for a total time of 377, accounting for 61.40 percent of the total use of acupoints. The acupoint compatibility was mostly distal-proximal:about 50 percent of the acupoint compatibility of binary association selected the distal-proximal point association, and the percentage of the acupoints compatibility of ternary association was 81.81%. The most commonly selected acupoints are the meridians of bladder, Ren and spleen meridians.According to meta-analysis results, the therapeutic effect of the acupuncture therapies as a whole were better than western medicine, on the cure rate in different treatments, there is statistical significance between the acupuncture and Western Medicine [RR=1.93,95%CI (1.76,2.13), P＜0.01]. On the total effective rate, there is statistical significance between the acupuncture and Western Medicine [RR=1.22,95%CI(1.18,1.26)].ConclusionBoth the number and quality of the modern clinical literature on acupuncture treatment of chronic prostatitis was on the rise. Most of the author’s affiliations documented in the investigated literature were hospitals and universities. Chinese Acupuncture, Journal of Clinical Acupuncture and Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture are the leading journals for publication on the relevant literature, whereas there seems to be a lack of financial support for research in the area. Three research focus areas have been identified through the current analysis:selecting acupoints for treating illness, the use of Baihuanshu, the design of study protocols and the use of acupuncture-moxibustion. The acupuncture prescription for treating chronic prostatitis has been focusing on enriching the kidney, strengthening Yang-qi, and clearing the lower energizer; commonly used acupoints include Zhongji, Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao, Zhibian and Shenshu, commonly used meridians include the meridian of bladder, Ren and spleen meridian; attention was also often given to the use of acupoints of the crossing point and the front-mu acupoint, The acupoint compatibility was mostly distal-proximal point association. In terms of cure rate and effective rate, although there were no statistical significance between a small percentage of acupuncture therapies and Western Medicine, the therapeutic effect of the acupuncture therapies as a whole were better than western medicine.