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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 7, 2025; 31(41): 110753
Published online Nov 7, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i41.110753
Published online Nov 7, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i41.110753
Effects of bottle gourd moxibustion combined with umbilical therapy for cancer-related incomplete bowel obstruction on inflammatory cytokine levels
Jing-Wen Wu, Li-Ping Li, Yin-Song Chen, Department of Oncology, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The Eighth Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Foshan 528000, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Wu JW designed the experiments and conducted clinical data collection; Chen YS performed postoperative follow-up and recorded the data, conducted the collation and statistical analysis; Wu JW and Li LP make critical revisions to important knowledge content; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Medical Research Project of Foshan Health Bureau in 2024, No. 20240243.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Informed consent statement: For this study, all patients signed an informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li-Ping Li, Department of Oncology, Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The Eighth Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, No. 6 Qinren Road, Chancheng District, Foshan 528000, Guangdong Province, China. 13794038664@163.com
Received: July 4, 2025
Revised: August 12, 2025
Accepted: September 29, 2025
Published online: November 7, 2025
Processing time: 125 Days and 0.8 Hours
Revised: August 12, 2025
Accepted: September 29, 2025
Published online: November 7, 2025
Processing time: 125 Days and 0.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study demonstrates that bottle gourd moxibustion combined with umbilical therapy (BGM-UT) significantly enhances standard palliative care for cancer-related incomplete bowel obstruction. In a retrospective analysis of 109 patients, BGM-UT reduced opioid consumption, accelerated gastrointestinal recovery (e.g., faster bowel sound restoration), and improved pain control. Crucially, it also lowered key inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, C-reactive protein), suggesting systemic anti-inflammatory effects. These findings highlight BGM-UT as a promising complementary therapy to alleviate symptoms and modulate inflammation in this challenging condition.