The efficacy of the treatment did not differ significantly in patients of varying ages and even the duration of the disease was not found to be significant. The effects for asthma patients of the cold type according to Traditional Chinese Medicine classification and of the allergic type according to western medicine were the most impressive, and the researchers also found that the long-term curative rate was linked to (a) the length of time of needle retention and (b) the speed with which a patient responded to treatment. (ie. those patients who received the most needling and those who responded fastest to the treatment experienced a better long-term curative rate.)

The study also found that 40 minutes of needle retention after the treatment took effect was the most desirable. Acupuncture treatment of bronchial asthma was considered very effective, and particularly useful for those patients who have a history of drug allergy.

The clinical observation revealed that the asthmatic symptoms in most of the patients began to be improved after several acupuncture treatments with the dosage of the drug gradually reduced.

Generally, the dose of cortisone per oz was decreased by 2 mg every 10 days, while that of aerosol was controlled by the patients themselves according to the condition of the disease.

The symptoms in most of the patients were markedly improved after 15 treatments, but the treatment should be continued for another 10 times to consolidate the curative effect. Thus, each asthmatic patient needs to receive approximately 30 sessions of acupuncture treatment, lasting about 3 months. Thereafter, in order to prevent its relapse, the treatment should be administered 10 times each year in the summer season. It is worthy to be mentioned that, in this series, there was a female patient who suffered from anaphylactic asthma induced by dog's hair. She received 10 sessions of acupuncture treatment with no improvement. In this case, the acupuncture treatment should not be given any longer. There were another two children patients aged 5 and 7 years respectively, for them the above method of acupuncture treatment was difficult to be used. Therefore, the auricular pressing method combined with cupping was adopted instead. The auricular points selected were Shenmen, Lung, Large Intestine, sensitive point, Pingchuan, Subcortex, and Kidney. 5 points were used each time, and pressed with the seeds of Vaccaria which were changed every 3 days. The patients were asked to press each of the points themselves 3 times a day (each time by 20 pressings). And Dazhui (Du 14), Feishu (UB 13), Pishu (UB 20) and Shenshu (UB 23) were cupped for 5 min. each time. The auricular pressing and cupping therapies may also be added for adult patients to strengthen the curative effect. The 25 cases of hormone dependent bronchial asthma were treated by acupuncture, yielding a markedly effective rate of 56% with a total effective rate of 96%, indicating that good therapeutic results can also be expected in the western countries for those cases who have already been treated with hormones.

A homoeopathic remedy was made up from allergen material supplied from the Pasteur Institute in Paris at a potency of 3Cc and a placebo preparation made up in exactly the same way but without the antigen. After the treatment the doctors and patients assessed the efficacy of the treatments, none knowing who had been given the true remedy and who had been given a placebo. Neither the assessments by the patients or the doctors gave the homoeopathic treatment a negative score and the report revealed that "the homoeopathical1y treated groups showed a greater improvement in scores than the placebos."

The researchers went on to conclude from the results that "homœopathy differs from placebo in an inexplicable but reproducible way"

Interestingly, these health benefits continued to be observed even 12 months after the programme had been completed. The implications of these findings and the potential usefulness of adding sports programs as adjunct therapy in the comprehensive care of asthma in children are discussed.

As far as the benefits of the spa therapy for patients with specific types of clinical asthma, the efficacy was found to be higher in patients with type Ia-2 (83.4%), type lb (77.8%) and type 11(80.0%) than in those with type Ia-I (54.2%).

The researchers also found that decreased function of the adrenocortical glands expressed by low serum cortisol levels improved after the spa therapy, and this was accompanied by a reduction in the dose of glucocorticoids necessary to control asthma attacks.

A further trial (2) conducted at the Division of Medicine, Misasa Medical Branch, Okayama University Medical School, Japan revealed similar findings. In this study, 37 patients with steroid-dependent intractable asthma were examined focussing on the improvement of ventilatory function following spa therapy. All of the patients had been on long-term corticosteroids therapy before spa therapy.

The results found that Spa therapy improved the values of ventilatory parameters significantly, especially in patients with type II asthma and the re-port went on to recommend Spa therapy to help improve the condition of small airways disorder in patients with steroid-dependent intractable asthma.

(1) Tanizaki Y; Kitani H; Okazaki M; Mifune T; Mitsunobu F; Honke N Clinical effects of complex spa therapy on patients with steroid-dependent in-tractable asthma (SDIA).Arerugi (JAPAN) Mar 1993, 42 (3 Pt 1) p219-27
(2) Tanizaki Y; Kitani H; Okazaki M; Mifune T; Mitsunobu F; Ochi K; Harada H; Kimura I Spa therapy improves ventilatory function in the small airways of patients with steroid-depend-ent intractable asthma (SDIA). Acta Med Okayama (JAPAN) Jun 1992 46 (3) p175-8