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  • 13.2: China Medical Trip 2008
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• 15: Contact

BMAS Meeting on the 18th October 2008

Content

A. Trial of Acupuncture in Hot Flushes
B. Funding for Acupuncture under PBC

Flush or Flash

Several CMIR members are also members of the BMAS (British Medical Acupuncture Society) and when I attended the autumn meeting on the 18th October 2008, I was particularly impressed with the first speaker.

Dr Einar Borud has studied acupuncture for many years and as research fellow of Norway’s National Research Centre in Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the University of Tromsø he has conducted a trial on menopausal patients particularly investigating the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating hot flushes (or flashes as some would describe them).

After his very clear and positive talk, I asked Dr Borud about the differentiation of syndromes.

He used 10 TCM practitioners in the trial and they used syndrome differentiation for point selection. Some points used were used in nearly all patients, others depending on syndrome.

Before attending the lecture I did a quick review of the CMIR course notes with respect to menopausal hot flushes and produced a list from which points could be selected. I showed this to Dr Borud and below they are compared:

Dr Borud’s analysis of the trial is continuing and will include analysis of the different practitioners’ results and the response of the different syndromes identified.

What do members think of these point lists? Do you have any favourite and effective points for hot flushes? Let us know.

Funding for Acupuncture

The other talk of particular interest to GPs was given by Dr Jonathan Freedman (GP, St Albans) who has successfully secured funding for the treatment of O.A. knee with acupuncture.

He feels the key to his success was the emphasis on cost savings and the impact on reducing knee replacement can be substantial as each operation costs more than £6,000. Any CMIR GP who is in a commissioning group might benefit from his experience.

He sees his bid as a model for others. He can be contacted via BMAS.