Review Article

Fire-Needle Moxibustion for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics of the included studies.

Author, yearSample size
(treatment/control)
Inclusion criteria
① ACR
② Guiding principles of clinical research on new drugs for TCM
Intervention of treatment groupIntervention of control groupDuration of interventionOutcome measures
(1) Curative effect
① Recovery rate
② Recovery and marked-improvement rate
(2) Pain
(3) Safety

Su 2012 [24]70 (35/35)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = NR, twice every week, 4 times, a total of 2 sessions(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) NA

Zeng et al. 2008 [25]129 (73/56)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = NR, twice every week, 4 times, a total of 2 sessions(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) NA

Zhu 2010 [26]98 (56/42)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = 30 min, 3 times every week, 6 times, a total of 2 sessions(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) NA

Jie et al. 2006 [27]240 (120/120)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = NR, once every 2 days, 5 times, a total of 2 sessions(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) NA

Li et al. 2011 [28]62 (32/30)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = 20 min, twice every week, 16 times, a total of 2 sessions(1) ①②
(2) ISOA
(3) Adverse events

Lu et al. 2013 [29]60 (30/30)Fire-needle moxibustionWarm-needle moxibustion1 session = NR, 3 times every week, 12 times, a total of 1 session(1) NA
(2) VAS
(3) NA

Zhang et al. 2013 [30]72 (36/36)Fire-needle moxibustionWarm-needle moxibustion1 session = 30 min, 3 times every week, 12 times, a total of 1 session(1) ①②
(2) WOMAC
(3) NA

Kuang 2006 [31]100 (50/50)Fire-needle moxibustionWarm-needle moxibustion1 session = NR, twice every 2 days, 10 times, a total of 3 sessions(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) NA

Tao et al. 2013 [32]66 (32/34)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = 30 min, twice every 2 days, 12 times, a total of 1 session(1) ①②
(2) WOMAC
(3) NA

Zhu 2013 [33]63 (33/30)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = 30 min, twice every week, 12 times, a total of 1 session(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) Adverse events

Huang 2013 [34]80 (41/39)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = 30 min, 3 times every week, 24 times, a total of 1 session(1) ①②
(2) ISOA
(3) NA

Wang 2015 [35]78 (39/39)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = 20 min, once every day, 14 times, a total of 1 session(1) ①②
(2) NA
(3) NA

Wu and Tian 2014 [36]61 (31/30)Fire-needle moxibustionFiliform-needle acupuncture1 session = NR, 3 times every week, 10 times, a total of 3 sessions(1) ①②
(2) VAS
(3) Adverse events

NA: not assessed; NR: not reported; KOA: knee osteoarthritis; ACR: American College of Rheumatology; VAS: Visual Analog Scale; WOMAC: Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index; ISOA: Index of Severity for Osteoarthritis.