Recovery of a patient with severe COVID-19 by acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine adjuvant to standard care

Abstract

There is currently no drug or therapy that can cure the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is highly contagious and can be life-threatening in severe cases. Therefore, seeking potential effective therapies is an urgent task. An older female at the Leishenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China, with a severe case of COVID-19 with significant shortness of breath and decrease in peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ), was treated using manual acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine granule formula Fuzheng Rescue Lung with Xuebijing Injection in addition to standard care. The patient’s breath rate, SpO 2 , heart rate, ratio of neutrophil/lymphocyte (NLR), ratio of monocyte/lymphocyte (MLR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and chest computed tomography were monitored. Acupuncture significantly improved the patient’s breathing function, increased SpO 2 , and decreased her heart rate. Chinese herbal medicine might make the effect of acupuncture more stable; the use of herbal medicine also seemed to accelerate the absorption of lung infection lesions when its dosage was increased. The combination of acupuncture and herbs decreased NLR from 14.14 to 5.83, MLR from 1.15 to 0.33 and CRP from 15.25 to 6.01 mg/L. These results indicate that acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, as adjuvants to standard care, might achieve better results in treating severe cases of COVID-19.

The role of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19: A scoping review

“… Liu L (2020) 58 case report China 1 0/1 67, NA Acupuncture + Chinese medicine Discharged with improved symptoms. Zhang X (2020) 59 case series China 7 4/3 35.7, 22∼50 Chinese and western medicine (moxibustion as adjuvant therapy) Seven patients were discharged after 14 to 35 days of treatment with negative nucleic acid conversion. Wang M (2020) 60 case series China 7 4/3 39.0, 31∼52 Chinese and western medicine (moxibustion as adjuvant therapy) Three patients were cured and four patients improved, with an efficiency of 100%.…”

Plant Extracts and SARS-CoV-2: Research and Applications

“…Among the proposed remedies, many of them based on empirical knowledge, using simple logic, it was assumed that if the symptoms of COVID-19 were those of the common flu then the same homemade remedies could help and cure the infection. These remedies and Chinese medicine-based papers have been published [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ] alongside others that claim that specific vitamins and other remedies may improve the recovery or boost the immune system against SARS-CoV-2, but not without controversy [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. One example of these misconceptions was the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (antimalarial drugs) against covid, which after much research was deemed to not have any positive effect on overall mortality, ventilation needs and hospitalization, despite promising results in vitro.…”

Traditional Chinese Medicine and COVID-19: Experiences, Lessons, and Suggestions

“…After acupuncture was administered, it quickly improved the patient's breathing function, SpO 2 and the heart rate recovered. 27 Additionally, a 37-year-old female physician in the United States also reported a case of using acupuncture for COVID-19. This case described a New York City anesthesiologist and medical acupuncturist who was infected and confirmed to have the COVID-19 virus.…”