CASE REPORT article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Neuroendocrine Science

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1543991

Acupuncture treatment of Satoyoshi syndrome: a case report of a rare disease

Provisionally accepted
Yu GongYu Gong1Xudong ZhangXudong Zhang2Xiaomin HaoXiaomin Hao3Jipeng LiuJipeng Liu1Chuan LiuChuan Liu4Tianqi XiaTianqi Xia4Yue BingnanYue Bingnan1Yi YangYi Yang1LongTeng TuLongTeng Tu1WeiJie QiuWeiJie Qiu1Liu YuLiu Yu5*Qingguo LiuQingguo Liu1*
  • 1School of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
  • 2Department of Chinese Medicine, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 3Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 4Beijing Chaoyang District Wangjing Community Health Service Center, Beijing, China
  • 5School of Special Education, Beijing Union University, Beijing, China

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Background: Satoyoshi syndrome ( also known as Komuragaeri disease ) is a rare disorder of unknown etiology, with progressive muscle spasms, whole-body hair loss, and diarrhea as its main symptoms, particularly progressive skeletal muscle spasms and pain.Because of the lack of a clear etiology and pathogenesis of Satoyoshi syndrome, Western medicine lacks established effective therapies, and the long-term prognosis of the treatment of this disease is poor, unable to improve multiple symptoms simultaneously and prevent the recurrence of the disease. In recent years, acupuncture has been increasingly explored as a complementary treatment for autoimmune diseases. It is believed to exert its effects by modulating the neuroendocrine-immune network, enhancing immune cell function, and restoring homeostatic pathways. These mechanisms enable acupuncture to provide immune modulation, ultimately achieving a holistic and bidirectional regulatory effect.Case description: We report the case of a 54-year-old male police officer who had Satoyoshi syndrome for more than five years. After six months of acupuncture treatment, the patient's chronic diarrhea completely disappeared, and the occasional painful muscle cramps and insomnia significantly improved. After six months of follow-up, the patient's condition was stable.In this study, we believe that acupuncture therapy is of great significance for the improvement of diarrhea, immediate and long-term analgesia, and stabilization of the Satoyoshi syndrome.

Keywords: Acupuncture, Satoyoshi syndrome, case report, rare disease, Autoimmune disorder

Received: 16 Dec 2024; Accepted: 07 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Gong, Zhang, Hao, Liu, Liu, Xia, Bingnan, Yang, Tu, Qiu, Yu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Liu Yu, School of Special Education, Beijing Union University, Beijing, China
Qingguo Liu, School of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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