Acupuncture for symptom management in patients with hyper-IgE (Job's) syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of acupuncture treatment for symptom management in patients with hyper-immunoglobulin E (IgE) syndrome (HIES). DESIGN: This was a retrospective case series. SETTING/LOCATION: The study was conducted at the The Clinical Research Center of the National Institutes of Health. SUBJECTS: There were 8 adult patients with HIES ages 23-56 with varying symptoms in the study. INTERVENTION: Acupuncture treatments were given from May 29, 2001 to February 17, 2009. OUTCOME MEASURES: Acupuncture treatment efficacy was measured and evaluated using a 0-10 assessment instrument pre- and post-treatment. RESULTS: The 8 patients with HIES suffered from a wide variety of symptoms related to the disease. Acupuncture treatments uniformly decreased the self-reported severity of symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This case series demonstrates that acupuncture is a clinically useful and safe therapy for symptom management in patients with HIES.