Electroacupuncture Analgesia in Major Abdominal and Pelvic Surgery: A Randomised Study

Abstract

Proponents of acupuncture anaesthesia have tended to look on it as a replacement for conventional anaesthesia. This randomised, controlled trial involving 250 cancer patients undergoing abdominal or pelvic surgery, has aimed to assess the use of electroacupuncture as the sole analgesic, but within a standard anaesthetic. It was found that while there was little difference between the per-operative requirement for anaesthetic drugs, all the non acupuncture group required fentanyl, compared to only 5% of the electroacupuncture group (P<0.001). Time to spontaneous respiration (P<0.02) and extubation (P<0.001) immediately post-operatively was reduced in the acupuncture group. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) was used for post-operative pain relief in the acupuncture group, while the control group received non-narcotic analgesics. There was no significant difference in the numbers of patients complaining of pain, but the requirement for additional analgesia was less when TENS was used (P<0.01). There was no difference in the period of post-operative ileus as measured by the return of normal bowel sounds. However the return to normal self caring was significantly improved in the acupuncture group (P<0.02). Both practically and economically this is probably the most important beneficial aspect of electroacupuncture demonstrated by this study.

Guidelines for Providing Acupuncture Treatment for Cancer Patients – a Peer-Reviewed Sample Policy Document

“…28 There is good evidence from clinical trials that acupuncture reduces acute peri-and postoperative pain. [29][30][31] Acupuncture is of mixed value for asthma 32 and stroke, 33 but so far thought to have no specific effect in smoking cessation 34 or weight loss. 35 For chronic cancer pain acupuncture has also been found to be helpful, 36 but a systematic review was inconclusive, which is perhaps unsurprising as it included only one randomised controlled trial -which was itself positive.…”

Electroacupuncture for postoperative pain and gastrointestinal motility after laparoscopic appendectomy (AcuLap): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…For symptoms other than nausea, the efficacy of acupuncture remained undetermined because of the high risk of bias. Eleven RCTs on pain [ 17 – 27 ], 10 RCTs on nausea [ 24 , 28 – 36 ], and 8 RCTs on ileus [ 17 , 18 , 23 , 37 – 41 ] were identified as having high or unclear risk of bias and showed positive or negative conclusions for each symptom.…”