The Efficacy of Acupuncture in Post-Operative Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundPostoperative pain resulting from surgical trauma is a significant challenge for healthcare providers. Opioid analgesics are commonly used to treat postoperative pain; however, these drugs are associated with a number of undesirable side effects.ObjectiveThis systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture and acupuncture-related techniques in treating postoperative pain.Data SourceMEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE databases were searched until Sep 30, 2014.Study Eligibility CriteriaRandomized controlled trials of adult subjects (≥ 18 years) who had undergone surgery and who had received acupuncture, electroacupuncture, or acupoint electrical stimulation for managing acute post-operative pain were included.ResultsWe found that patients treated with acupuncture or related techniques had less pain and used less opioid analgesics on Day 1 after surgery compared with those treated with control (P < 0.001). Sensitivity analysis using the leave-one-out approach indicated the findings are reliable and are not dependent on any one study. In addition, no publication bias was detected. Subgroup analysis indicated that conventional acupuncture and transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS) were associated with less postoperative pain one day following surgery than control treatment, while electroacupuncture was similar to control (P = 0.116). TEAS was associated with significantly greater reduction in opioid analgesic use on Day 1 post surgery than control (P < 0.001); however conventional acupuncture and electroacupuncture showed no benefit in reducing opioid analgesic use compared with control (P ≥ 0.142).ConclusionOur findings indicate that certain modes of acupuncture improved postoperative pain on the first day after surgery and reduced opioid use. Our findings support the use of acupuncture as adjuvant therapy in treating postoperative pain.

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Application of Acupuncture to Attenuate Immune Responses and Oxidative Stress in Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction: What Do We Know So Far?

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Efficacy of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation combined with general anesthesia for sedation and postoperative analgesia in minimally invasive lung cancer surgery: A randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial

“…Acupuncture, a noninvasive and nonpharmacological adjunctive intervention, has been widely applied for sedative and analgesic purposes . In addition to the conventional manual acupuncture, electrical acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) have also been employed in clinical practice.…”