Infantile anorexia is one of the commonly seen diseases in clinic and seriously affects the normal growth and development of children. Its pathogenic cause remains unknown up to now.

Currently, it is treated mostly with rational feeding, psychological guiding, Western and Chinese drugs, but the therapeutic effect is not very ideal. In accordance with the regulative action of the central nervous system on ingestion activity in modern medicine and the doctrines of adjusting the spleen and stomach to promote transportation and transformation of food in traditional Chinese medicine, we adopted otopoint pellet-pressure therapy to treat 326 cases of infantile anorexia and achieved satisfactory results. It is reported as follows.

CLINICAL DATA
1. General Data
All the 326 cases were out-patients, including 176 males and 150 females and ranging in age from 1 to 3 years in 138 cases, from above 3 to 6 years in 188 cases. Regarding the duration of disease, patients from 2 months to one year were 97 cases, those from above 1 to 3 years 146 cases and those from above 3 to 6 years 83 cases.

2. Standards of Diagnosis
1) The infantile patients' main symptom was anorexia, i. e. they had no active desire for having food or their food-intake was apparently less than that of the healthy children in the same age, with food 0. 5 kg ).
Marked improvement: Symptoms and signs disappeared basically and the infant patient had an improvement in appetite and increased in food-intake and body weight (>0. 25 kg ).
Effective: Symptoms, signs, appetite and food-intake had improvement in comparison with
pre-treatment.
Ineffective: After treatment, various indexes had no striking improvement.

2. Results
After treatment, of the 326 cases, 266 were cured, accounting for 81. 6%; 54 had significant improvement, accounting for 16. 56 %; and 6 had improvement, accounting for 1. 84 %. The total effective rate was 100% and the cure rate plus markedly effective rate was 98. 16%.Among them, the markedly, effective rate for symptoms, appetite and food-intake after only 3 days' treatment (one session) was 96. 88 %.

TYPICAL CASES
1. Huang, a boy of 6 years old. His first visit was on January 8, 1996. His parents told us that this child experienced anorexia since very young, had a poor appetite and had less than 150g of food every day. In the past, many times' treatment with drugs for helping digestion, promoting appetite and strengthening the spleen had no significant effect. Through examinations, hepatitis, tuberculosis and other chronic diseases were excluded, and this boy had an emaciated body (15. 5 kg in net body weight) and a sallow complexion. It was diagnosed as infant anorexia.

Otopoints: Qiunao, Yanzhong, Pizhixia (MAAT I ), Shenmen, Pi (MA-IC), Wei (MAIC), Shen, Gan (MA-SC 5 ) and Dan were used. In the second session of treatment, his parent told us that after treatment, this infant patient's appetite got much better, and his food-intake was increased more than twice as much as that of pre-treatment. Five sessions of treatment were given to him, he had rosy cheeks and his body weight increased by 1. 0 kg. He was cured. The following-up survey in half a year showed that his appetite, food-intake and development were the same to those of the same-aged children.

2. Peng, a boy of one year and 10 months. His first visit was on October 6, 1997. He was fed with his mother's milk before 1 year of age. After weaning, he got an anorexia, had a poor appetite and his food--intake was less than 75 g per day. He also got a constipation and had a bowel movement every 3 - 4 days. Examination showed emaciated body, sallow complexion, and his body weight was 10 kg. It was diagnosed as infant anorexia. The otopoint pellet-pressure therapy was given to him by using Qiunao, Yanzhong, Pizhixia (MA-AT 1), Shenmen, Pi (MA-IC), Wei (MA-IC), Shen, Gan (MA-SC5), Dan, Bianmi-point, Tingzhong and Sanjiao. When the second session was performed, his parent told us that after the first session of treatment, he ate more (twice as much as that of pretreatment) and faster, and his bowel motion was once a day. A total of 5 sessions of treatment was given to him, he had rosy cheeks and his body weight increased by 0. 5 kg. He was cured. The following-up survey in half a year showed that his appetite, food-intake and development were normal.

DISCUSSION
1. Currently, anorexia is one of the common diseases in the pediatric department and seriously hinders the growth of children, but its pathogenic mechanisms remain unknown. Epidemiological survey in some foreign countries suggested that the incidence rate of food refusal and food preference in infants and preschool children was 12 -- 34%, treatment was conducted mainly with rational feeding and psychological guiding. Domestic studies chiefly focus on functional disorder of the digestive system, lack of trace elements, hypofunction of the immune system, etc.,
mainly by oral administration of Western and Chinese drugs, but the total effective rates were 54% and 88% respectively. No reports on treatment of infant anorexia with otopoint pellet-pressure therapy was found. We employed the above-mentioned therapy to treat this disease and achieved satisfactory results.

2. Generally, anorexia results in alteration of ingestion behavior, accompanying with or without gastrointestinal dysfunction in clinic. Modern physiological researches demonstrate that there are many factors to affect ingestion while the functional state of the gastrointestinal tract is only one of them; lack of trace elements and hypofunction of the immune system are the consequences of anorexia. According to my experiences, infant anorexia mostly belongs to anorexia nervosa, probably resulted from functional disorder of the appetite nervous center. In treatment, we selected Qiunao, Yuanzhong, Pizhixia (MA-AT 1 ) and Shenmen to regulate functional activity of the orexis nervous center. Based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, i. e., regulating the spleen and stomach can help transformation and transportation of food; the kidney is the origin of congenital constitution, stores reproductive essence and food essence which are related with the growth and development of the brain and marrow; the brain is the sea of marrow and the spleen provides the material basis of the acquired constitution, Pi (MA-IC), Wei (MA-IC), Shen, Gan (MA-SC 5) and Dan were chosen to regulate functional activities of various Zhang- and Fu-organs Of the body, and promoted coordination and balance among them. During treatment, we also found that some anorexia children became emaciated, also with concomitant crying, restlessness,
distractibility, etc. which were also markedly bettered correspondingly after treatment.

3. When taking the otopoint, their locations should consult State Standards of Nomenclature and locations of Otopoints of the People's Republic of China. If they were not localized precisely, the therapeutic effect will be affected.

4. Otopoint pellet-pressure therapy used for treatment of infantile anorexia does has a good curative effect, take effect quickly and is convenient in operation, and has no sufferings or side-effects. It is suitable for children and worthy of being popularized in clinic, but its mechanisms should be studied further.

By Zhou Anping, Zhou Anyu, etc.