title: [Impacts of bleeding and cupping therapy on serum P substance in patients of postherpetic neuralgia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the effect of bleeding and cupping therapy on postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) and preliminarily discuss the analgesic mechanism.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-four cases of PHN were randomized into two groups, 32 cases in each one. In the bleeding and cupping group, the local pricking with syringe needle and cupping was applied in the local painful area, once every two days. And totally 8 treatments were required. In the pregabalin group, pregabalin was prescribed for oral administration, 150mg/time, twice a day. And totally 16 days of medication were required. Visual analogue scale (VAS) score and the changes of P substance content in the peripheral and local serum before and after treatment were observed in the two groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  VAS score and peripheral serum P substance after treatment were lower significantly than those before treatment in the two groups (all P<0.01). The result in the bleeding and cupping group was much more significant (P<0.01). The local serum P substance after treatment was reduced significantly than that before treatment in the bleeding and cupping group [(93.86 +/- 9.87) pg/mL vs (46.13 +/- 6.31) pg/mL, P<0.01].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bleeding and cupping therapy achieves the definite efficacy on PHN and it can reduce significantly peripheral and local serum P substance content in the patients. It is possibly one of the mechanisms of analgesic effect.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. evan_tian@163.com
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Yong-Jing
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ying-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jin-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001815:Bloodletting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D051474:Neuralgia, Postherpetic / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D013373:Substance P / Q000097:blood*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D013373:Substance P