Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Trials
Published in: Trials 1/2020

01-12-2020 | Plaque Psoriasis | Study protocol

Effects of moving cupping therapy for plaque psoriasis: study protocol for a randomized multicenter clinical trial

Authors: Meng Xing, Xiaoning Yan, Suqing Yang, Linge Li, Liping Gong, Hongxia Liu, Rong Xu, Jie Chen, Luo Ying, Yiding Zhao, Yuepeng An, Yang Liu, Gang Huang, Fei Guo, Qingfeng Yin, Ruiping Wang, Bin Li, Xin Li

Published in: Trials | Issue 1/2020

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

It is difficult to achieve a balance among safety, efficacy, and cost for the clinical treatment of plaque psoriasis. The current treatment of psoriasis often involves comprehensive therapy such as topical plasters, internal medicine, and phototherapy, which are expensive, and some of the drugs have serious side effects. Moving cupping is a type of cupping that has been used clinically for thousands of years in China. It has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to perform. Therefore, it is widely used in public hospitals in China for psoriasis treatment. However, a comprehensive evaluation of the current clinical evidence of its efficacy is lacking. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of moving cupping to treat plaque psoriasis.

Methods

A multicenter, two-arm parallel group, single-blind, randomized, controlled trial will be conducted at six hospitals in China between August 1, 2019 and December 31, 2021. A total of 122 adult patients (aged 18–65 years) who meet the inclusion criteria are being recruited. Participants will receive either basic treatment combined with moving cupping therapy or basic treatment combined with moving cupping placebo. The treatment cycle will be 4 weeks, and the efficacy of treatment will be assessed weekly by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index during the treatment period and follow-up visits at weeks 6 and 8. The body surface area, physician’s global assessment, Dermatology Life Quality Index, patient-reported quality of life, visual analog scale, Traditional Chinese Medication syndrome scoring scale, combined medication, and adverse events will also be recorded and compared to the relative baseline values.

Discussion

The findings of this trial may lead to better decisions regarding the treatment of plaque psoriasis. If the trial outcomes are considered favorable, this ancient Chinese medical therapy may be worthy of widespread use because of its convenience and low cost.

Trial registration

This study was registered on May 15,2019 at ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier number NCT03952676.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Parisi R, Symmons DP, Griffiths CE, et al. Global epidemiology of psoriasis: a systematic review of incidence and prevalence. J Invest Dermatol. 2013;133:377–85.CrossRef
2.
Chandran V, Raychaudhuri SP. Geoepidemiology and environ- mental factors of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. J Autoimmun. 2010;34:J314–21.CrossRef
3.
Kurd SK, Richardson S, Gelfand JM. Update on the epidemiology and systemic treatment of psoriasis. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2007;3:171–85.CrossRef
4.
5.
Zhao Y, Fishelevich R, Petrali JP, et al. Activation of keratinocyte protein kinase C zeta in psoriasis plaques. J Invest Dermatol. 2008;128:2190–7.CrossRef
6.
Xin L, Kong L, Fulun L, et al. Association between psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0145221.CrossRef
7.
Schöffski O, Augustin M, Prinz J, et al. Costs and quality of life in patients with moderate to severe plaque-type psoriasis in Germany: a multi-center study. Jddg Journal Der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft. 2007;5(3):209–18.CrossRef
8.
Nast A, Jacobs A, Rosumeck S, et al. Methods Report: European S3-Guidelines on the systemic treatment of psoriasis vulgaris – update 2015 – EDF in cooperation with EADV and IPC[J]. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol Jeadv. 2015;29(12):2277–94.CrossRef
9.
Thomsen SF, Skov L, Dodge R, Hedegaard MS, Kjellberg J. Socioeconomic Costs and Health Inequalities from Psoriasis: A Cohort Study. [J]Dermatology. 2019;235(5):1-8.CrossRef
10.
Chirali IZ. Traditional Chinese Medicine Cupping Therapy. London: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2007.
11.
Kouskoukis CE, Leider M. Cupping: the art and the value. Am J Dermatopathol. 1983;5:235–40.CrossRef
12.
AlRawi SN, Khidir A, Elnashar MS, Abdelrahim HA, Killawi AK, Hammoud MM, et al. Traditional Arabic & Islamic medicine: validation and empirical assessment of a conceptual model in Qatar. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017;17:157.CrossRef
13.
Kordafshari G, Ardakani MRS, Keshavarz M, et al. The role of phlebotomy (fasd) and wet cupping (hijamat) to manage dizziness and vertigo from the viewpoint of Persian medicine[J]. J Evid Based Complement Altern Med. 2016;22(3):369–73.CrossRef
14.
Lu S, Du S, Fish A, et al. Wet cupping for hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Exp Hypertens. 2019;41(5):474–80.CrossRef
15.
Teut M, Ullmann A, Ortiz M, et al. Pulsatile dry cupping in chronic low back pain – a randomized three-armed controlled clinical trial [J]. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2018;18(1):115.CrossRef
16.
Teut M, Kaiser S, Ortiz M, et al. Pulsatile dry cupping in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee – a randomized controlled exploratory trial. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012;12(1):184.CrossRef
17.
Acupuncture Technical Practice Part 5: Cupping. Project Group. National Standard of the People's Republic of China (GB/T21709.5–2008) Acupuncture Technical Practice Part 5: Cupping. Chin Acup Moxib. 2010;30(2):160–2.
18.
Meng F, Gao ZL, Li L, et al. Reconstruction of lymphatic vessels in the mouse tail after cupping therapy. Folia Morphol (Warsz). 2019;4:1–19.
19.
Dons’Koi BV, Chernyshov VP, Osypchuk DV, et al. Repeated cupping manipulation temporary decreases natural killer lymphocyte frequency, activity and cytotoxicity [J]. J Integ Med. 2016;14(3):197–202.CrossRef
20.
Lowe DT. Cupping therapy: an analysis of the effects of suction on skin and the possible influence on human health. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2017;29:162–8.CrossRef
21.
Lee HY, Lee HJ, Kim GC, et al. Plasma cupping induces VEGF expression in skin cells through nitric oxide-mediated activation of hypoxia inducible factor 1. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):3821.CrossRef
22.
Gruber R, Schmuth M. The barrier function of normal skin. Morphologic and functional aspects of the skin barrier. Hautarzt. 2014;65(3):234–40.CrossRef
23.
Bergboer JG, Zeeuwen PL, Schalkwijk J. Genetics of psoriasis: evidence for epistatic interaction between skin barrier abnormalities and immune deviation. J Invest Dermatol. 2012;132(10):2320–1.CrossRef
24.
Kim HN, Han K, Park YG, et al. Metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of psoriasis: a nationwide population-based study. Metabolism. 2019;10(11):19–24.CrossRef
25.
Zhang Q, Wang X, Yan G, et al. Anti- versus pro-inflammatory metabololipidome upon cupping treatment. Cell Physiol Biochem. 2018;45:1377–89.CrossRef
26.
Liu HX, Zhang CH, Liu ZX, et al. Observation on the clinical efficacy of moving cupping therapy for plaque psoriasis. Compilation of Papers of 2010 National Conference on Dermatology and Venereology of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine 2010.
27.
28.
Chan AW, Tetzlaff JM, Altman DG, et al. SPIRIT 2013 statement: defining standard protocol items for clinical trials. Ann Intern Med. 2013;158:200–7.CrossRef
29.
Feng L, Guo F, Ji Y. Clinical study on the treatment of plaque psoriasis of blood stasis syndrome based on the treatment of moving cupping. J Trad Chin Med. 2014;10:3343–5.
30.
Finlay AY, Khan GK. Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI)--a simple practical measure for routine clinical use. [J]. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2010;19(3):210–6.CrossRef
31.
Price DD, Mcgrath PA, Rafii A, et al. The validation of visual analogue scales as ratio scale measures for chronic and experimental pain. Pain. 1983;17(1):45–56.CrossRef
32.
Department of Dermatology, Chinese Medicine Association of China. Psoriasis vulgaris (white peony) Chinese medicine evidence-based clinical practice guide (2013 edition). J Trad Chin Med. 2014;55(1):76–82.
33.
Deng W, He J. Design and statistically analysis of clinical trials. Beijing: People’s Medical Publishing House; 2012.
34.
Tagi SM, Celik HT, Ciftci S, Kazanci FH, Arslan M, Erdamar N, et al. Wet-cupping removes oxidants and decreases oxidative stress. Complement Ther Med. 2014;22:1032–6.CrossRef
35.
Li T, Li Y, Lin Y, Li K. Significant and sustaining elevation of blood oxygen induced by Chinese cupping therapy as assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy. Biomed Opt Express. 2017;8:223–9.CrossRef
36.
Subadi I, Nugraha B, Laswati H, Josomuljono H. Pain relief with wet cupping therapy in rats is mediated by heat shock protein 70 and β-endorphin. Iran J Med Sci. 2017;42:384.PubMedPubMedCentral
37.
Volpato MP, Breda ICA, de Carvalho RC, et al. Single cupping therapy session improves pain, sleep and disability in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain. J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2019; in press.
38.
Lauche R, Spitzer J, Schwahn B, Ostermann T, Bernardy K, Cramer H, Dobos G, Langhorst J. Efficacy of cupping therapy in patients with the fibromyalgia syndrome-a randomised placebo controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2016;6:37316.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Effects of moving cupping therapy for plaque psoriasis: study protocol for a randomized multicenter clinical trial
Authors
Meng Xing
Xiaoning Yan
Suqing Yang
Linge Li
Liping Gong
Hongxia Liu
Rong Xu
Jie Chen
Luo Ying
Yiding Zhao
Yuepeng An
Yang Liu
Gang Huang
Fei Guo
Qingfeng Yin
Ruiping Wang
Bin Li
Xin Li
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Trials / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1745-6215
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-4155-0

Other articles of this Issue 1/2020

Trials 1/2020 Go to the issue

Research

How can health economics be used in the design and analysis of adaptive clinical trials? A qualitative analysis

Study protocol

Prophylactic prednisolone for the prevention of early and intermediate adverse effects of radioactive iodine therapy in patients with thyroid cancer: study protocol for a single-centre, phase II/III, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial

Study protocol

Neurofeedback for tinnitus: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial assessing the specificity of an alpha/delta neurofeedback training protocol in alleviating both sound perception and psychological distress in a cohort of chronic tinnitus sufferers

Study protocol

Neurological and psychological mechanisms of the specific and nonspecific effects of acupuncture on knee osteoarthritis: study protocol for a randomized, controlled, crossover trial

Study protocol

Treating impulsivity with probiotics in adults (PROBIA): study protocol of a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Study protocol

Short postsurgical antibiotic therapy for spinal infections: protocol of prospective, randomized, unblinded, noninferiority trials (SASI trials)