To observe the clinical efficacy of acupoint application of Chinese material medica in the treatment of pediatric bronchopneumonia with exuberant heat of lung and stomach.

A total of 100 children with bronchopneumonia manifested as exuberant heat of lung and stomach were recruited from the second ward of Pediatrics in Jinan Maternal and Child Health Hospital from November 2021 to September 2022, and were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, with 50 cases in each group. The control group received conventional Western medicine treatment, while the observation group received acupoint application of Chinese material medica together with conventional Western medicine. Both groups were treated until the children were cured and discharged from the hospital. The hospitalization duration, time of rales disappearance, fever regression, cough and phlegm disappearance, abdominal fullness, constipation or loose stool, and sour-smelling stool disappearance of the children in the two groups after treatment were compared. The total score of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) symptoms, C-reactive (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) of the children in the 2 groups were observed before treatment and on the 5th day of treatment, and any adverse reaction was recorded during the trial.

After the treatment, there were statistically significant differences in hospitalization time, rales disappearance time, fever regression time, cough and phlegm disappearance time, abdominal fullness and constipation or sour-smelling stool disappearance time in the 2 groups (Z= 44.0, 281.5, 568.5, 19.5, 0.0, all P<0.05). After 5 days of treatment, the overall TCM syndrome score, CRP and PCT levels in both groups decreased compared with the pre-treatment levels(Z= -6.205, -6.154, -6.154, all P<0.05), and the total TCM syndrome score, CRP and PCT in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (Z=225.0, 702.5, 860.5, all P<0.05). There were no obvious adverse reactions in both groups.

Acupoint application of Chinese material medica in the treatment of pediatric bronchopneumonia with exuberant heat of lung and stomach has shown remarkable clinical effect and is recommended for clinical promotion.