Effect of acupuncture combined with blood-letting by a three-edged needle on 50 cases of Bell's palsy at the acute stage.

OBJECTIVE: To observe clinical effects of acupuncture combined with blood-letting by a three-edged needle for treating Bell's palsy of wind-heat syndrome at the acute stage. METHODS: One hundred patients were randomly divided into a treatment group (50 cases) treated by acupuncture plus blood-letting and a control group (50 cases) treated by simple acupuncture. Four courses of treatments were given in both groups. The main symptoms and signs were observed and clinical effects evaluated with scores after one week, 2 weeks and one month of treatments respectively. RESULTS: After treatment, the scores for symptoms and signs were significantly different from those before treatment in both groups (P<0.05 or P<0.01). After one month of treatment, the improvement of the symptoms and signs in the treatment group was more than that in the control group with a significant difference (P<0.05). : Acupuncture plus blood-letting can produce good therapeutic effects on Bell's palsy of wind-heat syndrome at the acute stage.