溫氏現代針灸 溫崇凱中醫診所-耳針眼針頭皮針舌針權威-跟診日誌

Acupuncture Resolving the Sequela Caused by Electrotherapy for Patients with Parotid Gland Cancer

The most common condition among patients with lumps on their neck that I have encountered in the clinic is thyroid nodules. The causes of these lumps vary, including lymph nodes and salivary gland tumors. However, patients who have contracted this kind of illness usually do not seek traditional Chinese medical treatment during the onset of the illness, especially patients with tumors.

The salivary gland is a gland that secretes saliva. It has three pairs of major glands, including the parotid glands that stretch around the edge of the ears, the submandibular glands on both sides of the chin, the sublingual gland underneath the tongue, and also some minor salivary glands. The saliva serves the function of moistening the oral cavity and making it easier to swallow food. It contains the lysozyme that kills bacteria and prevents tooth decay. Illnesses related to the salivary gland include calculi and tumors..

The majority of salivary gland tumors are benign. At the onset of the illness, lumps develop in front of the ears or at the cheek below the ears. Malignant tumors will invade the facial nerves. The main approach that western medical doctors use to treat the parotid gland tumors, benign or malignant, is tumor resection. Malignant tumors, some of which are post-operative, can invade the facial nerves and cause facial palsy. Although nowadays there are facial nerve monitors that can identify the position of the facial nerves, it is difficult to remove the tumor when the cancer cells strongly adhere to the nerves, which might result in facial hemiplegia.

Sometimes the appearance of neck lumps might be due to nasopharyngeal carcinomas. Patients with lumps should undergo examinations for clarification at the onset of the condition. In the case of salivary gland tumors, the majority of them belong to parotid gland cancer, which accounts for at least 75% of the cases. However, in my clinical experience, I had never met any patients with parotid gland tumors until I began observing and learning from my master, Dr. Chong-Kai Wen. There was a female patient in her sixties who had had parotid gland cancer for six years. By the time of her visit she had already undergone the resection surgery, removing part of her mandible and nerves; three weeks prior to her visit at the clinic, she started to receive electrotherapy and had completed the thirteenth session by the time she visited the clinic.

She was not able to speak, nor was she able to open her mouth or swallow, let alone eat or drink. Her oral cavity was full of phlegm, which was becoming increasingly thick. She communicated by writing. Her daughter, a western medical doctor, brought her to the clinic for treatment.

I looked at the conditions of this patient in detail. Because of the operation and facial palsy, her entire face was almost distorted. Her daughter explained her medical history and conditions on her behalf.

This patient suffered from tightness in her right cheek, atrophy in her right shoulder, and tightness and pain in her right ear. To reduce the pain when she ate, she had to press down her right ear. She had difficulty swallowing, experienced sore throat, mouth ulcers, upset stomach, loss of appetite, worsening constipation, reduced urination, low urine output, lack of sleep after receiving electrotherapy, and had not not been able to eat or drink for several days. After my master gave her the acupuncture treatment, she left without a word.

Seeing that it's difficult to handle the sequela caused by cancer, I was not very optimistic about her chance of recovery.

The next day, she came again.

What surprised me was that she started to speak when she came to the clinic room!

She told Dr. Wen that she had been unable to talk to her daughter for one week. After the acupuncture treatment the previous day, the tightness in her right cheek became less severe, and her shoulder pain had been relieved a little. What's amazing was that after she went home, the amount of phlegm had reduced. She could talk. She felt that since she could talk, she could maybe also eat, so she had wonton soup after going home; she kept saying that the soup was delicious. Originally she had not been able to eat for several days. Even drinking water was difficult. She had been so sad that she wanted to cry. Now she was able to talk and eat. The amount of phlegm had decreased. All the body pain and tightness caused by the electrotherapies have been significantly alleviated...

I felt very relieved to see a patient who had severely suffered from the sequela of electrotherapy being able to talk again. I reflected upon the fact that I had insufficient clinical experience and lacked confidence in Chinese medicine. I also felt ashamed for not appreciating and knowing enough about my master's medical expertise. Therefore, I tried very hard to note down my master's acupuncture techniques. My master mainly applied the auricular acupuncture, focusing on the acupuncture points of Shenmen ("Divine Gate"), Erzhong ("center of the ear"), Naogan ("brain stem"), Nao ("brain"), the thalamus point, the lower point for the digestive system and sebum cutaneum, and Nanjiao ("triple burner").