The Effects of Sphenopalatine Ganglion Acupuncture in Patients With Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Patients
• Interventions: Procedure: Sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

• Registration Number: NCT03282630
• Lead Sponsor: Beijing Tongren Hospital

Brief Summary

Sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG)-acupuncture has been shown to exhibit distinct effects in treatment of nasal inflammatory disease. Investigators aimed to assess the effects of SPG acupuncture in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. The randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial enrolled participants with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Participants will be randomly assigned to either active SPG-acupuncture group or sham-acupuncture group. All participants will be provided four times of acupuncture in 4 weeks, and then follow-up of 4 week.

Primary trial outcomes are change in symptoms and change in need for medication. The primary outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week2, week3, week4, week 6 and week 8. Secondary outcomes include the changes in nasal patency (nasal airway resistance and nasal cavity volume), exhaled nasal nitric oxide.The investigators also evaluate change in neuropeptides (substance P, vasoactive intestinal peptide,neuropeptide Y) and inflammatory cytokines (interleukin(IL)-4, IL-5, IL-8, IL-17a, IL-22, IL-25, interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, transforming growth factor(TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-β3,Chemokine, Eotaxin) in nasal secretions as secondary outcomes. The secondary outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week4 and week 8.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-01-16
• Primary Completion: 2017-01-16
• Study Completion: 2017-02-20
• Status Verified: 2017-09
• Study First Submitted: 2017-09-06
• Study First Submitted QC: 2017-09-13
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-09-13
• Study First Posted: 2017-09-14
• Last Update Posted: 2017-09-14

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 150

Inclusion Criteria

• patients with a history of at least 2 years of seasonal allergic rhinitis
• no smoking
• without history of nasal polyps, nasal septum deviation and history of nose surgery) or lung disease (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and fibrosis)
• free of upper and lower respiratory tract infections for at least 4 weeks before beginning the study.

Exclusion Criteria

• had received acupuncture within the last four weeks before the study
• history of diabetes mellitus, autonomic neuropathy, coronary heart disease or hypertension.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
sham acupuncture	Sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture	Procedure/Surgery: Sham sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture The acupuncture point was selected same to the sphenopalatine ganglion. But the needle was inserted at the selected acupuncture site to a depth of only 2-3cm, and the procedure of rotating, twirling and thrusting the needle was repeated, in order to blind the subject to the sham treatment.
active acupuncture	Sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture	Procedure/Surgery: active sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture The acupuncture point was selected in the sphenopalatine ganglion (unilateral side). The acupuncture needle was inserted from the lower border of the zygomatic arch, slightly posterior to the suture protuberance between the zygomatic process and temporal process. The needle was rotated until the participant felt "de-qi" sensations.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The change of symptoms	The primary outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week2, week3, week4, week 6 and week 8.	The participants will document the four nasal symptoms (nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing, and itching) involved in assigning the total nasal symptom score(TNSS). The symptoms are graded on a four-point scale (0 = no symptoms; 1 = mild symptoms; 2 = moderate symptoms; 3 = severe symptoms). The weekly TNSS will be calculated and compared between the groups.
The change of need for medication	The primary outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week2, week3, week4, week 6 and week 8.	Participants will be asked not to use drugs as much as possible. If drugs are used to relieve symptoms, Medication need will be measured using rescue medication score (RMS), comprising the weekly sum of daily assessments.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The change of nasal patency	The outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week4 and week 8.	Acoustic rhinometry was performed to measure the total nasal cavity volume (cm³) and Rhinomanometer was used to measure the total nasal airway resistance (Pa·cm-³·s-1) .
The change of exhaled nasal nitric oxide	The outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week4 and week 8.	The change of exhaled nasal nitric oxide assessed by nitric oxide analyser. A nitric oxide analyser was used to measure exhaled nasal nitric oxide (nNO). Briefly, NO-free air was aspirated through the nasal cavity at a flow rate of 50 ml/s. The subject exhaled against the air-resistance, resulting in an intraoral pressure to close the velum and prevent mixture of oral and nasal gas. Nasal gas from this circuit was continuously routed in part directly into the analyser for determination of nNO, and the level of nNO(ppb) was calculated from a plateau lasting for at least 3s.
The change of substance P, vasoactive intestinal peptide and neuropeptide Y in nasal secretions	The outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week4 and week 8.	The change of substance P, vasoactive intestinal peptide and neuropeptide Y in nasal secretions were analysed by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Nasal secretions were obtained by inserting a postoperative sinus pack in the nasal cavity (acupuncture side) for five minutes. The quantity of secretions was determined by comparing the weight of the sponges before and after insertion and 2 ml of 0.9% sodium chloride solution was added to each sponge. The sponges were stored at 4°C for two hours and the nasal secretions were recovered from the sponges by centrifugation at 1500 g for 15 minutes at 4°C. The supernatants were separated and stored in aliquots at -20°C until further analysis. The levels of substance P(pg/ml), vasoactive intestinal peptide (ng/ml) and neuropeptide Y (pg/ml) were analysed.
The change of inflammatory cytokines in nasal secretions	The outcomes will be measured in baseline, week1, week4 and week 8.	The change of inflammatory cytokines (interleukin(IL)-4, IL-5, IL-8, IL-17a, IL-22, IL-25, interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, transforming growth factor(TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, TGF-β3,Chemokine, Eotaxin) in nasal secretions as secondary outcomes. Nasal secretions were obtained by inserting a postoperative sinus pack in the nasal cavity (acupuncture side) for five minutes. The quantity of secretions was determined by comparing the weight of the sponges before and after insertion and 2 ml of 0.9% sodium chloride solution was added to each sponge. The sponges were stored at 4°C for two hours and the nasal secretions were recovered from the sponges by centrifugation at 1500 g for 15 minutes at 4°C. The supernatants were separated and stored in aliquots at -20°C until further analysis. The levels of inflammatory cytokines (pg/ml) were analysed using the Luminex System.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Beijing Tongren Hospital; 🇨🇳 Beijing, Beijing, China