Electroacupuncture for Functional Constipation: A Multicenter, Randomized, Control Trial

Abstract

Background and Aim. To investigate the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture (EA) with different current intensities for functional constipation (FC) and to assess whether the effects of EA with different current intensities are superior to the mosapride. Methods. Patients with FC were randomly divided into low current intensity group (LCI), high current intensity group (HCI), and mosapride group (MC). The primary outcome was three or more spontaneous bowel movements (SBMs) per week and an increase of one or more SBMs from baseline during at least 3 of the 4 weeks. Results. The primary outcome was reached by 53.45%, 66.15%, and 52.24% of the patients who received LCI, HCI, and mosapride, respectively. EA can significantly improve the weekly SBMs and stool consistency and reduce straining severity (p < 0.0001, all). HCI improved the quality of life better than mosapride (p < 0.05) and reduced the proportion of severe constipation more than LCI and mosapride (p < 0.05, both). Conclusions. EA is effective and safe at both current intensities for FC; therapeutic effects of LCI and HCI are not superior to mosapride. EA is superior to mosapride in improving patients' life quality and satisfaction level of treatment; EA has fewer adverse events than mosapride.

Abdominal electroacupuncture demonstrates an increase in complete spontaneous bowel movements

“…A recent report compared 16 sessions of EA over 4 weeks with mosapride, 5 mg three times a day, and demonstrated ≥3 SBM in 66% and 52% of participants, respectively 5. In this study, EA resulted in ≥3 CSBM at similar rates as prucalopride 6.…”

The Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Management of Functional Constipation: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

“…e included studies came from Korea and China and were published between 2010 and 2019. e diagnostic criteria of one RCT were the guidelines for clinical research [44], and the other RCTs were Rome III. ere was 1 four-arm RCT [55], 5 three-arm RCTs [49][50][51][52][53][54], and 23 two-arm RCTs . e treatment duration was set for 2 weeks in 2 studies [32,46], 3 weeks in 1 study [47], 4 weeks in 18 studies [27, 30, 31, 33-37, 42, 44, 45, 48-55], and 8 weeks in 7 studies [26,28,29,[38][39][40][41]43].…”

“…e treatment duration was set for 2 weeks in 2 studies [32,46], 3 weeks in 1 study [47], 4 weeks in 18 studies [27, 30, 31, 33-37, 42, 44, 45, 48-55], and 8 weeks in 7 studies [26,28,29,[38][39][40][41]43]. For these 28 trials, 10 trials reported CSBM [26-28, 36, 38-43, 46], 13 trials reported BSFS [27-29, 34, 35, 38-43, 47, 48, 53], 9 trials presented responder rate [26, 28, 29, 38-41, 43, 47, 53], 6 trials presented CSS [30,45,[48][49][50][51][52], 10 trials mentioned PAC-QOL [28,32,33,37,38,41,43,44,46,53], and 15 trials mentioned safety evaluation [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. Table 2 summarizes the other parameters of the i...…”

Bone marrow‐derived interstitial cells of cajal are increased by electroacupuncture in the colon of diabetic mice

“…Studies indicated that EA could promote the colonic motility, 4,5 thus effectively alleviating symptoms in functional constipation patients. 6 Previous work using diabetic animal models has demonstrated that EA at ST36 was able to multiply the ICC of intestine. 7,8 However, the source of increased ICC has not been clearly illustrated.…”

“…Relatively, electroacupuncture (EA) may be a potentially effective therapeutic method to clinically treat intestinal functional diseases. Studies indicated that EA could promote the colonic motility, thus effectively alleviating symptoms in functional constipation patients . Previous work using diabetic animal models has demonstrated that EA at ST36 was able to multiply the ICC of intestine .…”