[Clinical observation on acupoint electro-superconducting therapy with Cinese herbal drugs contained pad in treating children asthma].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of acupoint electro-superconducting therapy with Chinese herbal drugs contained pad in treating children asthma. METHODS: Sixty asthma children in the mild to moderate stage of asthma attack were randomly divided into two groups, the treated group and the control group. Besides the basic treatment, acupoint electro-superconducting therapy with the pad containing Chinese herbal drugs was applied to the treated group, and to the control group the same therapy but with pad of placebo was applied, seven days as a course of treatment. The peak exhalation force (PEF) was measured daily, and the cytokines, interleukin-10 (IL-10) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were determined before and after treatment. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in the ratio of patients' PEF to the normal predicted value between the two groups before treatment (P > 0.05). But on the fourth day of the treatment course, the increase of PEF in the treated group was more obvious than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The IL-10 levels of two groups were raised after ending the treatment course, but the increment in the treated group was more obvious (P < 0.01). However, the changes of IFN-gamma levels after treatment showed insignificant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupoint electro-superconducting therapy with Chinese herbal drugs contained pad is helpful to improve the pulmonary function of children with asthma, it could also increase the serum IL-10 level in attack stage of the asthma children.