Objective: To observe the therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with dexamethasone in treatment of multiple radiculoneuritis. Methods: A total 68 cases of multiple radiculoneuritis in and out patients including 31 cases of males and 37 females were randomly divided into treatment group (n=35 cases) and control group (n=33 cases). In treatment group

acupoints of Yangming Meridian as Jianyu (LI 15)

Shouwuli (LI 13)

Shousanli (LI 10)

Waiguan (TE 5)

Biguan (ST 31)

Futu (ST 32)

Zusanli (ST 36)

Yanglingquan (GB 34)

Guanyuan (RN 4)

Yaoyangguan (DU 3)

Xinshu (BL 15) and Zhongwan (RN 12) were used as the main acupoints and stimulated electrically for 30 min. Simultaneously the patients were asked to take dexamethasone 15 mg

3 times daily

continuously for one week

followed by gradual decrease (to null) of dose. In control group

patients were asked to take dexamethasone only with the same dose. Ten sessions of treatment were considered as a therapeutic course and a total of 4 courses performed. Results: After treatment

of the 35 cases in treatment group

25 (71.43%) were cured

5 (14.29%) had remarkable improvement

4 (11.43%) had improvement and the rest one (2.86%) was failed in treatment

with the total effective rate being 97.14%. In control group

14 (42.42%) were cured

13 (39.39%) had marked improvement

3 (9.09%) had improvement and 3 (9.09%) had no significant effect

with the total effective rate being 90.90%. The cure rate of treatment group was significantly superior to that of control group (P<0.001). Conclusion: Combined treatment of multiple radiculoneuritis with acupuncture and dexamethasone is superior to that of simple dexamethasone in cure rate.