BACKGROUND Cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction presents numerous clinical cha-llenges,notably pain management and inflammation control.Conventional thera-pies provide limited relief,prompting investigation int...BACKGROUND Cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction presents numerous clinical cha-llenges,notably pain management and inflammation control.Conventional thera-pies provide limited relief,prompting investigation into complementary approa-ches.This study compares the efficacy of bottle gourd moxibustion combined with umbilical therapy(BGM-UT)plus standard palliative care vs standard Wes-tern palliative care alone in symptom alleviation and inflammation reduction.AIM To compare the efficacy of BGM-UT plus standard palliative care vs standard pa-lliative care alone in reducing inflammatory cytokine levels,alleviating symp-toms,and improving gastrointestinal recovery in cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction.METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on 109 patients aged 18-75 years with cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction treated at the Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between October 2023 and September 2024.The participants were categorized into two groups:(1)Regular group receiving stan-dard palliative care;and(2)BGM-UT group receiving additional moxibustion therapy.The inclusion criteria included ongoing opioid use and a Karnofsky per-formance status score below 60.The treatments were evaluated for 3 weeks in terms of opioid consumption,gastrointestinal function recovery,brief pain inven-tory scores,traditional Chinese medicine symptom scores,and inflammatory cytokine levels.RESULTS Initially,the groups were demographically and clinically comparable.Post-treatment,the BGM-UT group showed significant reductions in opioid intake(P=0.027),improved gastrointestinal recovery times,and enhanced pain management as reflected by their lower brief pain inventory scores(P<0.05).Similarly,the improvement in traditional Chinese medicine scores was greater in the BGM-UT group than in the regular group(P<0.05).Inflam-matory markers including interleukin-6,tumor necrosis factor-α,and C-reactive protein decreased significantly in the BGM-UT group,indicating the superior anti-inflammatory effects of this treatment(P<0.05).CONCLUSION The addition of BGM-UT to standard palliative care enhances pain relief,accelerates gastrointestinal recovery,and effectively reduces inflammatory cytokine levels in patients with cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction.This combination therapy offers a promising complementary approach to managing this challenging condition.Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings and explore underlying mechanisms.展开更多
Background:Shenque(CV8)acupoint is located on the navel and has been therapeutically used for more than 2000 years in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM).However,clinical research on the underlying therapeutic molecular...Background:Shenque(CV8)acupoint is located on the navel and has been therapeutically used for more than 2000 years in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM).However,clinical research on the underlying therapeutic molecular mechanisms of the CV8 acupoint lags far behind.This study aimed to study the mechanisms of umbilical acupoint therapy by using stem cells.Methods:The morphological characteristics of CV8 acupoint were detected under a stereomicroscope using hematoxylin and eosin(H&E)staining.Oil Red,Masson,and immunohistochemical staining on multi-layered slices were used to identify the type of cells at the CV8 acupoint.Cell proliferation was measured by a cell counting kit-8(CCK-8)method.Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were used for cell identification.Induced differentiation was used to compare the differentiation of cells derived from CV8 acupoint and non-acupoint somatic stem cells into other cell types,such as osteogenic,adipogenic,and neural stem cell-like cells.Results:Morphological observations showed that adipose tissues at the linea alba of the CV8 acupoint in mice had a mass-like distribution.Immunohistochemical staining confirmed the distribution of stem cell antigen-1(Sca-1)positive cells in the multi-layered slices of CV8 acupoint tissues.Cells isolated from adipose tissues at the CV8 acupoint exhibited high expression of Sca-1 and CD44 and low expression of CD31 and CD34,and these cells possessed osteogenic,adipogenic,and neurogenic stem cell-like cell differentiation ability.The cell proliferation(day 4:0.5138±0.0111 vs.0.4107±0.0180,t=8.447,P=0.0011;day 5:0.6890±0.0070 vs.0.5520±0.0118,t=17.310,P<0.0001;day 6:0.7320±0.0090 vs.0.6157±0.0123,t=13.190,P=0.0002;and day 7:0.7550±0.0050 vs.0.6313±0.0051,t=42.560,P<0.0001),adipogenic([9.224±0.345]%vs.[3.933±1.800]%,t=5.000,P=0.0075),and neurogenic stem cell-like cell differentiation(diameter<50 mm:7.2000±1.3040 vs.2.6000±0.5477,t=7.273,P<0.0001;diameter 50–100 mm:2.6000±0.5477 vs.1.0000±0.7071,t=4.000,P=0.0039;and diameter>100 mm:2.6000±0.5477 vs.0.8000±0.8367,t=4.025,P=0.0038)were significantly enhanced in somatic stem cells derived from the CV8 acupoint compared to somatic stem cells from the groin non-acupoint.However,cells possessed significantly weaker osteogenicity([2.697±0.627]%vs.[7.254±0.958]%,t=6.893,P=0.0023)in the CV8 acupoint group.Conclusions:Our study showed that CV8 acupoint was rich with adipose tissues that contained abundant somatic stem cells.The biological examination of somatic stem cells derived from the CV8 acupoint provided novel insights for future research on the mechanisms of umbilical therapy.展开更多
基金Supported by Medical Research Project of Foshan Health Bureau in 2024,No.20240243.
文摘BACKGROUND Cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction presents numerous clinical cha-llenges,notably pain management and inflammation control.Conventional thera-pies provide limited relief,prompting investigation into complementary approa-ches.This study compares the efficacy of bottle gourd moxibustion combined with umbilical therapy(BGM-UT)plus standard palliative care vs standard Wes-tern palliative care alone in symptom alleviation and inflammation reduction.AIM To compare the efficacy of BGM-UT plus standard palliative care vs standard pa-lliative care alone in reducing inflammatory cytokine levels,alleviating symp-toms,and improving gastrointestinal recovery in cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction.METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on 109 patients aged 18-75 years with cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction treated at the Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between October 2023 and September 2024.The participants were categorized into two groups:(1)Regular group receiving stan-dard palliative care;and(2)BGM-UT group receiving additional moxibustion therapy.The inclusion criteria included ongoing opioid use and a Karnofsky per-formance status score below 60.The treatments were evaluated for 3 weeks in terms of opioid consumption,gastrointestinal function recovery,brief pain inven-tory scores,traditional Chinese medicine symptom scores,and inflammatory cytokine levels.RESULTS Initially,the groups were demographically and clinically comparable.Post-treatment,the BGM-UT group showed significant reductions in opioid intake(P=0.027),improved gastrointestinal recovery times,and enhanced pain management as reflected by their lower brief pain inventory scores(P<0.05).Similarly,the improvement in traditional Chinese medicine scores was greater in the BGM-UT group than in the regular group(P<0.05).Inflam-matory markers including interleukin-6,tumor necrosis factor-α,and C-reactive protein decreased significantly in the BGM-UT group,indicating the superior anti-inflammatory effects of this treatment(P<0.05).CONCLUSION The addition of BGM-UT to standard palliative care enhances pain relief,accelerates gastrointestinal recovery,and effectively reduces inflammatory cytokine levels in patients with cancer-induced incomplete bowel obstruction.This combination therapy offers a promising complementary approach to managing this challenging condition.Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings and explore underlying mechanisms.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation Projects(No.81671462)Shanxi Natural Science Foundation Projects(No.201901D211315 and 201901D111184)Science and Technology Develop-ment Program of Xinzhou(No.20180103).
文摘Background:Shenque(CV8)acupoint is located on the navel and has been therapeutically used for more than 2000 years in Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM).However,clinical research on the underlying therapeutic molecular mechanisms of the CV8 acupoint lags far behind.This study aimed to study the mechanisms of umbilical acupoint therapy by using stem cells.Methods:The morphological characteristics of CV8 acupoint were detected under a stereomicroscope using hematoxylin and eosin(H&E)staining.Oil Red,Masson,and immunohistochemical staining on multi-layered slices were used to identify the type of cells at the CV8 acupoint.Cell proliferation was measured by a cell counting kit-8(CCK-8)method.Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were used for cell identification.Induced differentiation was used to compare the differentiation of cells derived from CV8 acupoint and non-acupoint somatic stem cells into other cell types,such as osteogenic,adipogenic,and neural stem cell-like cells.Results:Morphological observations showed that adipose tissues at the linea alba of the CV8 acupoint in mice had a mass-like distribution.Immunohistochemical staining confirmed the distribution of stem cell antigen-1(Sca-1)positive cells in the multi-layered slices of CV8 acupoint tissues.Cells isolated from adipose tissues at the CV8 acupoint exhibited high expression of Sca-1 and CD44 and low expression of CD31 and CD34,and these cells possessed osteogenic,adipogenic,and neurogenic stem cell-like cell differentiation ability.The cell proliferation(day 4:0.5138±0.0111 vs.0.4107±0.0180,t=8.447,P=0.0011;day 5:0.6890±0.0070 vs.0.5520±0.0118,t=17.310,P<0.0001;day 6:0.7320±0.0090 vs.0.6157±0.0123,t=13.190,P=0.0002;and day 7:0.7550±0.0050 vs.0.6313±0.0051,t=42.560,P<0.0001),adipogenic([9.224±0.345]%vs.[3.933±1.800]%,t=5.000,P=0.0075),and neurogenic stem cell-like cell differentiation(diameter<50 mm:7.2000±1.3040 vs.2.6000±0.5477,t=7.273,P<0.0001;diameter 50–100 mm:2.6000±0.5477 vs.1.0000±0.7071,t=4.000,P=0.0039;and diameter>100 mm:2.6000±0.5477 vs.0.8000±0.8367,t=4.025,P=0.0038)were significantly enhanced in somatic stem cells derived from the CV8 acupoint compared to somatic stem cells from the groin non-acupoint.However,cells possessed significantly weaker osteogenicity([2.697±0.627]%vs.[7.254±0.958]%,t=6.893,P=0.0023)in the CV8 acupoint group.Conclusions:Our study showed that CV8 acupoint was rich with adipose tissues that contained abundant somatic stem cells.The biological examination of somatic stem cells derived from the CV8 acupoint provided novel insights for future research on the mechanisms of umbilical therapy.