External counterpulsation stimulation combined with acupuncture for vascular endothelial function in patients with hypertension: A randomized pilot trial

External counterpulsation stimulation combined with acupuncture for vascular endothelial function in patients with hypertension: A randomized pilot trial

Objective Endothelial function may improve with enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) or acupuncture. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of acupoint stimulation combined with EECP (acupoint-EECP) for endothelial cell function in patients with essential hypertension. Methods Thirty esse...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Meilan Lin, Xiaonv Wang, Bingbing Ye, Jun Zhang, Shuman Lin, Yiye Xu, Jianguan Zhou, Sipei Liu, Shiwei Zhou, Xiafei Guan, Yan Jin, Lei Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023-12-01
Series:Clinical and Experimental Hypertension
Subjects:
blood pressure
endothelin
external counterpulsation
acupressure
nonpharmaceutical therapy
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10641963.2023.2181355
Description
Summary:Objective Endothelial function may improve with enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) or acupuncture. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of acupoint stimulation combined with EECP (acupoint-EECP) for endothelial cell function in patients with essential hypertension. Methods Thirty essential hypertensive patients were, randomly divided into two groups, with 15 patients in the acupoint-EECP group, and 15 patients in the control group, of which 3 cases were lost by week 6. Both groups were treated with continued medicine. The participants in the acupoint-EECP group received acupoint stimulation combined with EECP therapy, 45 min for each time, 5 times weekly for 6 weeks for a total of 22.5 hours. The selected acupoints are Zusanli (ST36), Fenglong (ST40) and Sanyinjiao (SP6). The curative effects of the two groups were compared. Results The acupoint-EECP group (n=15) showed significant improvement in endothelial function [nitric oxide (NO) ，endothelin-1 (ET-1) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), respectively] values compared to the control group (n=12). Multiple imputation (n = 20 imputations) was performed to account for potential bias due to missing data. In stratified analyses, SBP and DBP values decreased when the baseline SBP was ≥120 mmHg and DBP was ≥80 mmHg. Conclusions These findings suggest the feasibility of acupoint-EECP in improving endothelial function and treating hypertension. (The Chinese clinical trial registration number is ChiCTR2100053795.)
ISSN:1064-1963
1525-6006

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