Introduction: Auricular Acupuncture (AA) is both a diagnostic method and a treatment used to relieve pain and alleviate addictions. The effects and biological mechanisms of AA on the human body have been increasingly observed in clinical and experimental studies based on the gate control theory and the endogenous opioids theory. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in facial pain thresholds among healthy volunteers after applying AA to acupoints on both auricles.

Methods: This was a pilot study with a crossover randomized controlled trial design. 66 healthy volunteers with normal hemodynamic indexes were randomly assigned to one of two groups to receive AA treatment at the Shenmen point, Sympathetic point, Adrenal gland point, Jaw point, and Tooth point of either the left or right auricle (phase 1). 7 days later, participants received sham acupuncture at the same points (phase 2).

Results: In phase 1, the results showed that AA at these points in either auricle increased the pain threshold of the facial skin statistically significantly (p<0.05). No statistically significant difference was detected in the sham acupuncture phase.

Conclusions: This suggests that AA can be used as a non-pharmacological adjunct to facial pain relief.

Introduction: Removing the third molar is a common dental surgery that often results in swelling and discomfort, impacting the patient's wellbeing. Previous studies have shown that auricular acupuncture (AA) can effectively alleviate pain after surgery. This study aimed to assess the pain-relieving benefits of AA for patients undergoing third molar surgery.

Methods: A clinical trial using a split-mouth design and double-blind methodology was conducted at the Dental Clinic of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh city between March 2022 and March 2023. Participants had both sides of their third molars extracted, with one side receiving AA in combination with postoperative pain relief medication, and the other side receiving sham AA along with postoperative pain relief medication. Pain levels at 2, 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery, and the amount of pain medication used was recorded. Additionally, any side effects resulting from the AA treatment were also evaluated.

Results: The pain levels measured by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) decreased over time for both intervention periods after surgery, with statistically significant lower VAS scores observed in the AA time compared to the sham AA time. The amount of 500mg/tablet paracetamol used after the intervention also decreased over time for both periods. At all-time points, the amount of paracetamol used in the AA group was lower than the sham AA group. No adverse effects were reported in either group.

Conclusions: AA was effective for relieving pain after madibular third molar surgery and reducing amount of paracetamol tablets.

Introduction: Auricular acupuncture (AA) is a method for diagnosing and treating physical and psychosomatic dysfunctions by stimulating a specific point in the ear. Some studies prove that the acupoints on the pinna have a corresponding relationship to areas of the body. According to several studies, acupoints on the body may influence the temperature of the corresponding region. In our study, we surveyed the change in temperature of the skin surface at the mandibular area when using AA at the Jaw point on each side of the ear in healthy people.

Methods: A cross-over study with 35 healthy volunteers was conducted in the Acupuncture Experimental Research Lab, Faculty of Traditional Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City from November 2021 to May 2022. Temperatures of the mandibular area before and after using auricular acupuncture were recorded.

Results: After using AA at the Jaw point on the left, the temperature of the left mandibular area was increased statistically from that before (from 34.34 ± 0.69 to 34.76 ± 0.72). After using AA at the Jaw point on the right, the temperature of the right mandibular area was increased statistically from that before (from 34.50 ± 0.86 to 34.31 ± 0.68). No side effects were observed during the study.

Conclusions: When using AA at the Jaw point on the ear, the temperature of the mandibular area on the side of using auricular acupuncture increased statistically, showing the relationship of the Jaw point on the ear with the mandibular area.

Introduction: Neck pain is one of the leading causes of disabilities and increasing economic and social burden. Methods affecting the trigger point (TrP) have initially shown good pain relief effectiveness and decreased degree of invasion in patients. The research is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Electroacupuncture (EA) at TrP in chronic neck pain (CNP) treatment.

Methods: A non-blind randomized study on 125 patients with CNP at Traditional Medicine Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City from September 2020 to June 2021. Patients will be randomly classified into EA at the TrP group or EA at the meridian points group.

Results: There were 62 patients in the TrP group and 63 patients in the other group. After 4 weeks, in the TrP group, the Questionnaire Douleur Saint-Antoine (QDSA) score of 38.2 ± 2.6 decreased to 9.3 ± 5.7, compared with the meridian points group’s QDSA score of 37.8 ± 2.3 decreased to 12.3 ± 7.1. The percentage of patients to reach good pain relief effectiveness of EA at TrP measured by QDSA is 71.0%, statistically significantly higher than 47.6% of the other group. The decrease in the number of TrPs of EA at TrP is higher and has statistical value compared with EA at meridian points.

Conclusions: EA at TrP showed better pain relief effectiveness, has a higher percentage of patients reaching good pain relief effectiveness measured by QDSA, and decreases the number of TrPs more than EA at meridian points does on patients with CNP.

Background and Objective: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most common neurodegenerative conditions. However, studies on the classifications and symptoms of CTS from the perspective of traditional medicine are still limited. Our study aims to identify traditional medicine disease nomenclature and symptoms of CTS by the survey form.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at The 3rd branch of University Medical Center HCMC, Thong Nhat Hospital from March 2021 to June 2021. We conducted a study survey on patients diagnosed with primary CTS and agreed to participate in the study with survey questionnaires, data were processed by using Excel 2016 and Lantern 5.0 software.

Results: 48 symptoms collected from 94 patients with CTS based on questionnaires were included in the Latent Tree Model. Compared with the medical literature review, there were 40/48 symptoms and 5 patterns appearing in the collected sample. These 5 main patterns: Blood stasis has 4 symptoms, yin deficiency has 6 symptoms, damp heat has 3 symptoms, blood deficiency has 3 symptoms and invasion of meridians of wind cold has 3 symptoms to diagnose. The results of the study have shown that the results of the algorithms are statistically significant when comparing clusters of latent variables with traditional medicine descriptions. Therefore, the use of the results of the machine has a scientific basis in terms of statistics.

Conclusion: After analyzing clinical data from 94 patients with Latent Tree Model, it was found that 5 disease patterns appeared with symptoms helping diagnose those disease patterns.

Background and Objectives: Adult eczema (AE) has been reported to have a poor quality of life (qoL). Auricular acupuncture (AA) is a method that has been studied a lot recently. Our study is to determine the effects of combining AA and modern medication in the relief of symptoms and the improvement in qoL in AE.

Methods: A single-blind randomized study on 65 AE at the University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City Branch 3; was randomized into an auricular acupuncture (AA) group and a Sham acupuncture (SA) group. All AA group patients will receive AA at Lung, Shenmen, Endocrine, and Adrenal points. The score of scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) and the score of dermatology life quality index (DLQI) were compared in two groups before and after treatments.

Results: There were 33 patients in the AA group and 32 patients in the SA group. After 2 weeks, in the SA group, the SCORAD score of 46.4 ± 1.3 decreased to 28.2 ± 1.2, compared with the AA group’s SCORAD score of 47.5 ± 1.5 decreased to 24 ± 1.3; the DLQI score of 14.7 decreased to 7.6, compared with the intervention group DLQI score of 15, reduced to 5.7. The difference in improving the SCORAD score and the DLQI score between the two groups was statistically significant. No patient had any adverse events during the study.

Conclusions: Combining auricular acupuncture Lung, Shenmen, Endocrine, Adrenal points, and modern medication treatment may relieve effectively symptoms and improve the QoL in AE. 

Introduction: COPD affects the quality of a patient’s life and leads to death. Identifying TCM symptoms and clinical patterns proportions in the community will make diagnosis and treatment more effective. In Vietnam, there were no epidemiological documents about COPD in TCM. Therefore, this study wished to survey stable COPD patients to find out the proportions of symptoms and patterns in TCM to create a basis for further practice.

Methods: The survey was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional study. Participants were stable COPD outpatients at the Clinic and respiratory function test of the University Medical Center HCMC from September to December 2018. According to the survey form based on the TCM diagnostic criteria, the proportions of symptoms and patterns were recorded.

Results: After three months, 116 patients were recruited. The proportions of 30 TCM symptoms and signs were recorded. The proportions of patients were as follows: 80.17% met Lung qi deficiency, 76.72% for Lung-kidney qi deficiency, 53.45% for Lung-kidney qi and yin deficiency, 47.41% for Lung-spleen qi deficiency, and 2.59% for not meeting any of the diagnostic criteria. Patterns were overlapping in the same patients.

Conclusions: All TCM symptoms and patterns in the diagnostic criteria appeared in COPD patients. The deficiency of the Lung and Kidney was the most common. Most patients were classified into many different patterns with multi organs damage. More multicenter studies with bigger participants numbers are suggested.