Publication: Scoping Review: Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Treating Post Viral Olfactory Dysfunction
Date
2022
Authors
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Publisher
International Medical University
Abstract
Background: Acupuncture is part of the Traditional Chinese Medicine used to treat various disease in ancient time till now. According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture is where filiform needles used to insert at the certain acupoint location at the body to regulate the "Qi" and "Blood" of a person to achieved balance and recover back to healthy state. However, modem science said that the needle insertion able to stimulates the nervous system release chemical in the muscle, spinal cord and brain which further influence releasing of hormones to regulate the body. During this COV10-19 pandemic, many patients suffered post viral olfactory dysfunction with many failed to recover despite conventional medicine treatment. Acupuncture has become an alternate modality to treat post viral olfactory dysfunction and some research had been conducted to test the efficacy of it. In order for acupuncture to be use das alternative or complimentary treatment, research need to be reviewed to look into the methods of conduct and results before systematic review able to be done for testing the efficacy of acupuncture to treat post viral olfactory dysfunction (PVOD).
Objective: The purpose of doing this scoping review was to identify the articles about effectiveness of acupuncture used to treat post viral olfactory dysfunction and evaluate the feasibility to do a systematic review in this area of research.
Method: A scoping review done to search for the published articles about acupuncture used to treat P OVD from PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The key word search used were "acupuncture", "dry needling" or "needling" and "post viral olfactory dysfunction", "post viral olfactory disorder" or "loss of smell" while the Chinese Journal search' with the key words “针灸” and “嗅觉障碍”.
Result : According to the search strategy used, a total hit of 54 articles achieved. After scrutinized with the inclusion and exclusion criteria, total of 8 articles were selected for full reading and further discussion. 3 out of the 8 articles were published in Chinese language while the other 5 published in English language. The 8 articles for review consist of 2 randomized controlled trial, J prospective study, J prospective control study, l historical cohort study and 3 case study. From these 8 articles, a table summary of comparison was done for further discussion.
Conclusion: There is no unifying standard acupoints in treating PVOD however the study reliability able to be increased by using randomized control trial and larger sample size. It is suggested that control group be used in the study for efficacy of acupuncture in treating PVOD as comparison able to be made to rule out the chances of spontaneous recovery from PVOD. The odour material used for testing the smelling must be suitable for the local to prevent error of answering due to ignorance to the material. Furthermore, the type of diagnostic test also needs to be considered especially the Sniffin' Sticks Test as the components its measured are close to represent the severity and improvement of olfactory dysfunction. It is suggested to use the same practitioner to perform the acupuncture to reduce the variability which may affect the result because different practitioner will have different way of doing the manual manipulation in terms of the frequency of lifting and thrusting or twirling and rotating the needle. In order to run a systematic review, more randomized control trial need to be done to get sufficient data for analysis.
Keywords: Acupuncture, Post Viral Olfactory Dysfunction, COVID-19, Anosmia
Description
Keywords
Acupuncture, Review, Dry Needling, Anosmia, COVID-19