Acupuncture for symptom management in patients with hyper-IgE (Job's) syndrome

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of acupuncture treatment for symptom management in patients with hyper-immunoglobulin E (IgE) syndrome (HIES).

DESIGN: This was a retrospective case series.

SETTING/LOCATION: The study was conducted at the The Clinical Research Center of the National Institutes of Health.

SUBJECTS: There were 8 adult patients with HIES ages 23-56 with varying symptoms in the study.

INTERVENTION: Acupuncture treatments were given from May 29, 2001 to February 17, 2009.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Acupuncture treatment efficacy was measured and evaluated using a 0-10 assessment instrument pre- and post-treatment.

RESULTS: The 8 patients with HIES suffered from a wide variety of symptoms related to the disease. Acupuncture treatments uniformly decreased the self-reported severity of symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: This case series demonstrates that acupuncture is a clinically useful and safe therapy for symptom management in patients with HIES.