Objective To observe the effect of acupuncture combined with moxibustion on serum bone metabolism indexes in patients with knee osteoarthritis(KOA)

so as to evaluate its clinical efficacy on KOA. Methods Ninety-six patients with KOA were randomly divided into control and observation groups

with 48 cases in each group. The patients in the control group were treated with acupuncture at Zusanli(ST36)

Neixiyan(EX-LE4)

Heding(EX-LE2) and Xuanzhong(GB39) etc. on the affected side for 30 min once daily. Patients in the observation group were given moxibustion on the above-mentioned acupoints on the basis of treatment in the control group. The course of treatment for both groups was 4 weeks. The Western Ontario and MacMaster University Osteoarthritis Index(WOMAC) scores were compared before and after treatment and the clinical efficacy of the two groups were calculated according to the WOMAC scores after treatment. Ultrasound examination of the knee joint was used to analyze the thickness of joint effusion and synovial membrane thickness of the patients. Enzyme-linked immunoassay was used to detect the serum type Ⅰ collagen C-terminal foreign body peptide(CTX-Ⅰ)

insulin-like growth factor(IGF)

bone gla protein(BGP)

matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9)

matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor-1(TIMP-1) levels. Results Compared with those before treatment

WOMAC score

knee joint synovial thickness and joint effusion thickness

serum CTX-Ⅰ

MMP-9

TIMP-1 levels

and MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio were all down-regulated(P<0.05)

while the levels of serum IGF and BGP up-regulated(P<0.05) in the two groups after treatment. The improvements of the above indexes in the observation group were superior to those in the control group(P<0.05). The total effective rate in the observation group was 95.83%(46/48)

which was higher than 81.25%(39/48) in the control group(P<0.05). Conclusion Acupuncture combined with moxibustion can regulate bone metabolism and effectively improve the symptoms of KOA patients

which may be related to its effect in regulating the dynamic balance of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in serum.