Acupuncture In Treatment Of Allergic Rhinitis

Study site and population: The study has been conducted in Beni-Suef University Hospital for patients attended to the Otorhinolaryngiology clinic. 150 patients has been chosen representing urban and rural districts of both sexes above 18 years with history of seasonal and/or perennial allergic rhinitis for more than one year divided into the three groups of the study with 50 patients in each group. Symptoms were submitted to the Total Nasal Symptom Score evaluation (TNSS); we chose cases with TNSS 3 for each symptom in this study. Intervention: Acupuncture groups received treatments three times weekly for a total of twelve sessions over a period of 4 weeks. Disposable needles of acupuncture were used. For the active acupuncture group, 9 acupuncture points (bilateral LI4, LI20, GB20 and ST36, unilateral EX-1) were selected, while in the sham acupuncture treatment, the needles were inserted at non-acupuncture points 1-1.5 cm away from the real acupuncture sites. Medical treatment patients were treated with local nasal steroid (Nasonex) two buffs in each nostril once daily for four weeks.