To observe the curative effect of herbal-medicine -powder-separated "Long-snake moxibustion" over the Governor Vessel at different vesiculation conditions in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
A total of 120 RA patients received herbal-powder-separated long-snake moxibustion in the present study and randomized into Banmao (
After moxibustion, of the three 40 RA patients in the CANT-0 g, CANT-1.5 g and CANT-3.0 g groups, 0, 10 and 12 cases were under control in their symptoms, 7, 16 and 19 experienced marked improvement, 17, 9 and 6 were improved, 16, 5 and 3 failed in the treatment, with the effective rates being 60.0%(16/40), 87.5%(35/40) and 92.5%(37/40), respectively. The curative effects of CANT-1.5 g and CANT-3.0 g were significantly superior to that of CANT-0 g (
Long-snake moxibustion combined with CANT-induced vesiculation has a good curative effect in the treatment of RA, which may be associated with its effects in lo-wering ESR level, and serum RF, CRP, IgM and IgG contents. The curative effect of vesiculation moxibustion is far better than non-vesiculation moxibustion, but mild vesiculation moxibustion is recommended due to severe pain of CANT-3.0 g.