OBJECTIVE:To observe the effect of herb-parti-tioned moxibustion combined with electroacu-puncture on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in patients with symptom pattern of kidney deficien-cy and phlegm-dampness.METHODS:Totally 62 PCOS patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into inter-vention group and control group.In the interven-tion group,acupoints were subjected to (43 ± 1) ℃herb-partitioned moxibustion and electroacupunc-ture treatment.In the control group,acupoints were subjected to (37 ± 1) ℃ herb-partitioned mox-ibustion and sham electroacupuncture treatment.Treatment was provided 3 times per week for 12 weeks,and the treatment was stopped during men-struation.After the treatment,the clinical efficacy,the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) symptom pattern score,basal body temperature (BBT) levels,menstrual cycle,and related sex hormone levels of the two groups were evaluated.RESULTS:Sixty patients were eventually included in the study (30 in the intervention group and 30 in the control group).There were not obvious be-tween-group differences in the baseline efficacy pa-rameters (all P ＞ 0.05).(a) After treatment,the two groups have improved in terms of clinical efficacy,TCM symptom pattern score,menstrual cycle and,BBT (P ＜ 0.01,＜ 0.05),and the intervention group was better than the control group (P ＜ 0.01,＜ 0.05).(b) In the intervention group,the estradiol (E2) and P450 aromatase (P450arom) levels were increased(all P ＜ 0.05),the testosterone (T) level was de-creased (P ＜ 0.05),and the luteotropic hormone(LH) and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels were significantly decreased (P ＜ 0.01).In the control group,E2 level was increased (P ＜ 0.05),and LH lev-el was decreased (P ＜ 0.05).After treatment,the T,LH,and AMH levels of the intervention group were decreased compared with those of the control group (all P ＜ 0.05),and the P450arom level was increased (P ＜ 0,05).CONCLUSIONS:Herb-partitioned moxibustion combined with electroacupuncture can effectively improve the related clinical symptoms of PCOS pa-tients with kidney deficiency and phlegm-damp-ness.Herb-partitioned moxibustion combined with electroacupuncture may inhibit the overexpression of AMH to increase the expression level of P450arom in ovarian granulosa cells,thereby recon-structing the dependence of follicular develop-ment on FSH,and finally improving abnormal follic-ular development and hyperandrogenism in PCOS patients with kidney deficiency and phlegm-dampness.