The Effects of Sphenopalatine Ganglion Acupuncture in Patients With Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis

Capital Medical University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Patients

Treatments: Procedure: Sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03282630

TR-acupuncture-2

Details and patient eligibility

About

Sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG)-acupuncture has been shown to exhibit distinct effects in treatment of nasal inflammatory disease. Investigators aimed to assess the effects of SPG acupuncture in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. The randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial enrolled participants with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Participants will be randomly assigned to either active SPG-acupuncture group or sham-acupuncture group. All participants will be provided four times of acupuncture in 4 weeks, and then follow-up of 4 week.

Primary trial outcomes are change in symptoms and change in need for medication. The primary outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week2, week3, week4, week 6 and week 8. Secondary outcomes include the changes in nasal patency (nasal airway resistance and nasal cavity volume), exhaled nasal nitric oxide.The investigators also evaluate change in neuropeptides (substance P, vasoactive intestinal peptide,neuropeptide Y) and inflammatory cytokines (interleukin(IL)-4, IL-5, IL-8, IL-17a, IL-22, IL-25, interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, transforming growth factor(TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-β3,Chemokine, Eotaxin) in nasal secretions as secondary outcomes. The secondary outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week4 and week 8.

Enrollment: 150 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• patients with a history of at least 2 years of seasonal allergic rhinitis
• no smoking
• without history of nasal polyps, nasal septum deviation and history of nose surgery) or lung disease (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and fibrosis)
• free of upper and lower respiratory tract infections for at least 4 weeks before beginning the study.

Exclusion criteria

• had received acupuncture within the last four weeks before the study
• history of diabetes mellitus, autonomic neuropathy, coronary heart disease or hypertension.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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150 participants in 2 patient groups

active acupuncture

Experimental group

Description:

Procedure/Surgery: active sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture The acupuncture point was selected in the sphenopalatine ganglion (unilateral side). The acupuncture needle was inserted from the lower border of the zygomatic arch, slightly posterior to the suture protuberance between the zygomatic process and temporal process. The needle was rotated until the participant felt "de-qi" sensations.

Treatment:

Procedure: Sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

sham acupuncture

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Procedure/Surgery: Sham sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture The acupuncture point was selected same to the sphenopalatine ganglion. But the needle was inserted at the selected acupuncture site to a depth of only 2-3cm, and the procedure of rotating, twirling and thrusting the needle was repeated, in order to blind the subject to the sham treatment.

Treatment:

Procedure: Sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture