ANALYSIS ON THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECT OF ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT OF 2656 CASES OF PRIMARY TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA

In the present paper, the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture therapy for treatment of primary prosopalgia was observed and its influencing factors were analyzed in 2656 patients. Yuyao (EX HN 4), Touwei (ST 8), Sibai (ST 2), Quanliao (SI 18), Xiaguan (ST 7) and Jiachengjiang were punctured selectively according to the involvement of different branches of the trigeminal nerve. After treatment, of the 2656 cases, the trigeminal neuralgia disappeared in 1469 (55.31%), 727 (27.37%) had marked improvement, 430 (16.19%) had improvement and 30 (1.13%) had no any significant effect. The three years’ follow up visit in 245 cases showed a relapse in 187 cases (76.3%). We think that the therapeutic effect is closely related to the needling manipulations. Only when an electric shock like needling sensation appeared (i.e. “qi reaching the affected area") after inserting the acupuncture needle into the chief acupoints, a better therapeutic effect would be achieved.