Acupuncture Study

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Study: Acupuncture Eases Heart Failure Symptoms

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Acupuncture can relieve some of the stress

caused by heart failure, researchers said on Wednesday.

 

When used correctly by professionals, the thin needles reduced

activity of the sympathetic nervous system -- which become overactive

in heart failure patients and stress the heart, the researchers told

a meeting of the American Heart Association (news - web sites).

 

``There is an ever-increasing interest in alternative medicine. But

until now, no one had looked at acupuncture's effect on the very

sickest heart failure patients,'' Dr. Holly Middlekauff of the

University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, who led the

study, said in a statement.

 

``Our research represents a promising first step, but more study is

definitely needed.''

 

A 1997 National Institutes of Health (news - web sites) report

concluded that acupuncture can ease the nausea suffered after cancer

chemotherapy and after an operation, and can relieve morning sickness

and pain after a dental operation.

 

The report found that the traditional Chinese technique could cause

the body to release opioid peptides -- natural body chemicals that

ease pain.

 

Middlekauff told a meeting of the American Heart Association in

Anaheim that she wanted to see whether acupuncture could affect the

sympathetic nervous system, which regulates heartbeat and blood

pressure, among other functions.

 

``Advanced heart failure patients often have two or three times more

sympathetic nerve activity than normal individuals,'' Middlekauff

said. ``It has been shown that the greater this activity is, the

worse the outlook for the patient, so reducing it could be crucial.''

 

Heart failure affects 500,000 people a year in the United States.

Although it is a chronic condition, half of the patients die within

five years. Patients can suffer from shortness of breath, swelling of

the limbs and general weakness.

 

For the most advanced patients, a heart transplant is the only

option, although drugs such as beta-blockers and diuretics can ease

the symptoms of less-ill patients.

 

Middlekauff's team tested 14 critically ill heart failure patients

who had no hope other than a transplant.

 

One third got acupuncture at traditional acupuncture sites. Another

group was given ``non-acupoint'' acupuncture in which needles were

placed at sites not traditionally believed to be useful in

acupuncture, and a third group had a ``no-needle'' simulation of the

treatment, in which a needle holder is taped to the back of their

neck, but no needle was inserted.

 

The researchers monitored their blood pressure, heart rate and

sympathetic nerve activity. They gave the patients a mental stress

test, for example by making them do math problems in their heads.

 

Without acupuncture, the test made sympathetic nerve activity

increase by about 25 percent. The patients who got acupuncture had no

increase in this nerve activity.

 

``Blood pressure and heart rate were unaffected by the acupuncture,

and both increased after mental stress testing in all groups, but

sympathetic nerve activation was significantly reduced in the

acupuncture group,'' Middlekauff said.

 

She said a good deal more study was needed, in larger groups, before

anyone could recommend using acupuncture routinely in heart failure

patients.