- NEW YORK - By his
own account, Dr. Randal Zusman, Director of blood-pressure medicine at
the Massachusetts General Hospital, is a pill pusher.
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- High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk
factor for heart attack and stroke. Middle-aged Americans face a staggering
90 percent chance of developing the condition, according to a new report
in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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- But the drugs used to treat it must be taken daily, usually
for a lifetime. And they may have side effects, such as fatigue, depression
and dizziness.
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- So Zusman is looking for alternatives for relieving hypertension.
He thinks he may have found one in the ancient Chinese technique of acupuncture.
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- "There is an extensive literature from Asian and
Russian communities that acupuncture does indeed lower blood pressure,"
he says.
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- American researchers have already shown that special
acupuncture needles, when gently inserted into specific points on the skin,
can stimulate nerves that reach up into the brain and to cells in the brain
that control blood pressure.
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- "There's evidence from our laboratory and many other
laboratories to suggest that the cells quiet down after acupuncture,"
says Dr. John Longhurst professor of medicine at the University of California,
Irvine.
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- When those cells "quiet down," or become less
active, blood vessels relax.
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- Clinical Trials Continue
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- Now, in the most rigorous study of its kind, patients
with high blood pressure - 140 (systolic) over 90 (diastolic) or higher
- are being given a series of 12 acupuncture treatments.
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- The study is not yet complete, but Zusman is already
enthusiastic.
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- "A substantial number of our patients have responded
with significant reductions in blood pressure," he says.
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- Patients like Rip Reeves are also impressed: "In
my late 30s, I was probably 145/95; with medication, I got it down to 130/80.
And since I've been on acupuncture and not taking medication, I've been
averaging 125/75."
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- Perhaps most amazing, acupuncture's benefit can be long
lasting. Some patients who received the acupuncture treatment nine months
ago still have normal blood pressure.
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- "The implication," says Zusman, "is that
12 acupuncture treatments over a six-week period will produce a cure."
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- In this case, the doctors defined "cure" as
maintaining normal blood pressure for one year without medication. And
that, for some patients, may now be within their reach.
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