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Traditional thermal therapy with indirect moxibustion decreases renal arterial resistive index.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the immediate effects of indirect moxibustion, a traditional local thermal therapy, on renal hemodynamics by using Doppler ultrasonography (US).


DESIGN
Prospective observational study of postintervention changes in several variables.


SETTING
Gifu University Hospital, Gifu, Japan.


PARTICIPANTS
Eleven healthy persons (7 men and 4 women; mean age±standard deviation, 32.6±5.7 years) were enrolled.


INTERVENTION
Indirect moxibustion was applied for 4 minutes to bilateral lower back acupuncture points (BL23). Each participant received 3 successive treatments.


OUTCOME MEASURES
The main outcome measurement was resistive index (RI) in the renal segmental arteries. Blood flow variables, including RI, were measured for 6 renal segmental arteries by Doppler US at rest (baseline), immediately after completion of moxibustion (post 1), and 10 minutes later (post 2). Participants were monitored for adverse events during the intervention.


RESULTS
The mean RI was 0.578±0.037 at baseline, 0.546±0.027 at post 1, and 0.547±0.032 at post 2. RI decreased significantly between post 1 and baseline (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.053 to -0.011; p=0.003) and between post 2 and baseline (95% CI, -0.052 to -0.009; p=0.005). No adverse events, such as burns, were observed.


CONCLUSION
This study of the short-term effects of indirect moxibustion on renal hemodynamics in healthy persons showed that renal vascular resistance was reduced after the therapy.