Schweiz Med Wochenschr Suppl. 1994 ; 62(): 39-48.

[Acupuncture and bronchial asthma]

Medici TC.

Departement für Innere Medizin, Universitätsspital Zürich.

Complementary and alternative medicine is a widespread phenomenon. On the one hand it is demanded by the patients. On the other, practising physicians want to know more about it. The common motive for their interest is the perception that conventional medicine has its limits. This is obvious in the case of bronchial asthma, whose underlying cause is largely unknown despite decades of research, and whose treatment is symptomatic. Furthermore, asthma mortality is not declining. In these circumstances it is legitimate to look for alternatives. One alternative therapy is acupuncture. Although there are many published studies on acupuncture and asthma, few meet the scientific tests necessary to prove the effectiveness of acupuncture. From these studies it emerges that short term effects of acupuncture are better documented than long term ones. Nor is it possible to predict what proportion of asthmatics will respond to acupuncture. Allergic eosinophilic inflammation of the respiratory tract is foremost among present day hypotheses concerning the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of asthma. It is interesting that there are no known clinical or experimental investigations into the effect of acupuncture on allergic inflammation of the asthmatic's bronchial mucosa. In view of these facts we are conducting a long term controlled study of the acute and chronic effects of acupuncture on both allergic inflammation of the bronchial mucosa and asthmatics' clinical symptoms, bronchial hyperreactivity and consumption of medication. To establish responders and non-responders, lung function tests and measurement of microcirculation and skin temperature are carried out before and after acupuncture treatment. If we can show that acupuncture has an effect on the allergic inflammation, this is not only a new pathophysiologic aspect and a further explanation of how the acupuncture effect on asthma comes about. The result also has far-reaching implications for the asthmatic by improving the disease, limiting consumption of medication, preventing side effects and lowering drug costs.