Acupuncture and Herbs Resolve Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

Acupuncture and Herbs Resolve Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)

Acupuncture and Chinese herbs eliminate pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). This disorder is often due to an infection in the uterus, fallopian tubes, or ovaries. PID may cause infertility due to residual scarring or congealed exudate. Chlamydia and gonorrhea are common etiologies but PID may be caused many other pathogenic influences.

Acute PID may require hospitalization and emergency use of antibiotics or surgery. Chronic PID may not resolve through the use of conventional therapies including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications, and multiple exploratory surgeries. Fortunately, researchers confirm that a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine is effective for the resolution pelvic inflammatory disease.

Based on clinical research, researchers from the Chongqing Institute of Chinese Medicine conclude that acupuncture and herbs achieve significant positive patient outcomes for patients with chronic PID. Chinese herbal medicine, as a standalone therapy, achieved a 77.5% total effective rate in their clinical trial. Acupuncture, as a standalone therapy, achieved a 75% total effective rate. A therapeutic protocol combining acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine achieved a 92.5% total effective rate. The data confirms that an integration of both acupuncture and herbs into a treatment protocol achieves optimal positive patient outcome rates.

The total effective rate was based on improvements of both objective and subjective outcomes. Improvements include the reduction or elimination of abdominal pain, lower abdominal bloating, vaginal discharge (leukorrhea), menstrual pain, irregular menstruation, fatigue, and pelvic compression test pain. The total effective rate also includes significant improvements or elimination of endometrial hyperplasia, pelvic masses, vaginal secretion leukocyte count, and the serum leukocyte and neutrophil count. Six, nine, and twelve month follow-up medical examinations confirm that acupuncture and herbal medicine maintain lasting results and prevent relapses of PID. 

The study was comprised of three treatment groups equally randomized from 120 patients with pelvic inflammatory disease. Group one received acupuncture. Group two was treated with herbal medicine. Group three was treated with both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. The patients in the study suffered from PID related complications including generalized bodily inflammation, salpingitis, hydrosalpinx, oophoritis, oviduct cysts, pelvic connective tissue inflammation, and endometritis. PID is due, at least in part, to the differential diagnostic pattern of damp heat and toxins with blood stasis, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) principles.

Acupuncture was applied to primary acupoints including:

• SP6, Sanyinjiao
• CV6, Qihai
• CV4, Guanyuan
• ST29, Guilai
• SP10, Xuehai
• SP9, Yinlingquan 

Supplementary points were added based on differential diagnostics including:

• CV3, Zhongji
• ST28, Shuidao
• KD3, (Taixi)
• KD7, Fuliu
• BL23, Shenshu

A reinforcing and reducing method was applied until the arrival of deqi. Next, the needles were retained for thirty minutes per acupuncture treatment session. The needles were manually manipulated every ten minutes. Acupuncture was applied once per day for seven days followed by a three day break. This process was applied seven times yielding seven courses of care totaling 49 acupuncture sessions per patient.

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