The Influence Of Acupuncture On The Superficial Microcirculatory Blood Perfusion Of Knee Joint In Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis

ObjectiveTo observe the influence of acupuncture and celecoxib on local Superficial Microcirculatory Blood Perfusion(SMBP)of knee joint in patients with Knee Osteoarthritis(KOA),illustrating the partly mechanism of acupuncture treatment for KOA.Methods44 KOA patients were included this randomized,controlled clinical trial and were divided into acupuncture group and celecoxib group,with 22 patients in each group.Acupuncture treatment was performed once daily,five times for a week,and totally for 2 weeks in acupuncture group.Oral celecoxib was administered once a day for 200 mg,and 2 weeks in celecoxib group in total.The McGill Pain Questionnaire(MPQ)and the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index(WOMAC)were used to evaluate the clinical efficacy.The laser speckle technique was used to detect the SMBP change of 5 Regions of Interest(ROI)in the knee joint before and after 2 week’s treatment in each group.Results1.43 patients finished the trial,including 22 patients in the acupuncture group and 21 patients in the celecoxib group.2.There were no significant differences in demographic data,baseline disease severity related data and local SMBP in the knee joint between the two groups(p>0.05).3.Clinical evaluation:(1)The within group comparison analysis showed that,compared to the baseline,the WOMAC scores of the two groups and the MPQ scores of acupuncture group decreased significantly after treatment(p<0.01).There is no statistical difference in the MPQ scores in the celecoxib group compared to the baseline(p>0.05).(2)The between group comparison ananlysis showed that,there were nosignificant differences in the MPQ scores and WOMAC scores between the two groups(p>0.05).4.The influence of acupuncture and celecoxib on SMBP of knee joints:(1)The within group comparison analysis showed that,both acupuncture and celecoxib treatment significantly increased the SMBP of ROI2,ROI3,ROI4 and ROI5 of knee joint(p<0.05),and acupuncture significantly increased the SMBP of ROI1(p<0.05)but celecoxib had no obvious effect on SMBP of ROI1(p>0.05).(2)The between group comparison ananlysis showed that,there were no significant differences in the SMBP of ROI1,ROI2,ROI3,ROI4 and ROI5 of knee joints between the two groups(p>0.05).Conclusion1.Both acupuncture and celecoxib can effectively improve the clinical symptoms of KOA patients and relieve knee pain.2.Both acupuncture and celecoxib can increase the local SMBP of knee joint in KOA patients with equal strength.