Clinical study of acupoint catgut embedding therapy for non-alcoholic fatty liver

Objective To observe the therapeutic effects of acupoint catgut embedding on patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver. Methods 60 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver were selected and randomly divided into two groups: treatment group and control group. Patients in the treatment group were treated with acupoint catgut embedding therapy and those in control group were treated with acupuncture therapy for 12 weeks. Then the body weights and symptoms of the patients were observed, and serum levels of lipoids and liver function were detected before and after the treatments. Results After acupoint catgut embedding, the degrees of hepatic steatosis and inflammation, and serum levels of ALT, AST, TG, and CHOL in treatment group were significantly decreased, which were similar to those in control group. Conclusion Acupoint catgut embedding showed better therapeutic effects on non-alcoholic fatty liver, whose mechanism may be associated with the regulation on disorder of lipids metabolism.