[Needle-knife combined with pseudo-ginseng-cake moxibustion for primary knee osseous arthritis of blood stasis syndrome:a randomized controlled trial].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy differences between needle-knife combined with pseudo-ginseng-cake moxibustion and oral administration of western medication for primary knee osseous arthritis (PKOA) of blood stasis syndrome.

METHODS: Sixty cases of PKOA of blood stasis syndrome were randomly assigned to an observation group and a control group. Patients in the observation group (30 patients, 38 knees) were treated with needle-knife combined with pseudo-ginseng-cake moxibustion, while patients in the control group (30 patients, 36 knees) were oral administration of western medication. The treatment was given three weeks continuously. The knee osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) was adopted to observe the knee pain, symptoms and stiffness, daily life, sport and entertainment function, daily life quality score and total score in the two groups before and after treatment. The follow-up visit was performed two months after the treatment to evaluate the long-term efficacy.

RESULTS: The total effective rate was 97.4% (37/38) in the observation group, which was significantly superior to 77.8% (28/36) in the control group (P<0.05). Each item of KOOS was increased in the observation group after treatment and follow-up visit (P<0.05, P<0.01); the KOSS in the control group was also increased (all P<0.01) after treatment, and daily life and daily life quality score of knee in the follow-up visit were significantly increased (both P<0.01). The scores other than sport and entertainment function score in the observation were significantly higher than those in the control group (all P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: The needle-knife combined with pseudo-ginseng-cake moxibustion could significantly improve the symptoms of PKOA of blood stasis syndrome, which was superior to oral administration of western medication alone and had better long-term effects.