(1/332) A single-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a simple acupuncture treatment in the cessation of smoking.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is a major cause of preventable disease and premature death. Physicians should play an active role in the control of smoking by encouraging cessation and helping the smoker to choose the most suitable aid to cessation. AIM: To evaluate a simple, ear acupuncture treatment for the cessation of smoking. METHOD: Randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 78 currently smoking volunteers from the general public. Volunteers attended an acupuncture clinic in a general practice setting and were given a single treatment of electroacupuncture using two needles at either an active or a placebo site plus self-retained ear seeds for two weeks. The major outcome measure was biochemically validated total cessation of smoking at six months. RESULTS: A total of 12.5% of the active treatment group compared with 0% of the placebo group ceased smoking at six months (P = 0.055, 95% confidence interval -0.033 to 0.323). CONCLUSION: This simple ear electroacupuncture treatment was significantly more effective in helping volunteers to quit smoking than placebo treatment.  (+info)

(2/332) The effect of acupuncture in chronic intractable epilepsy.

We examined the effect of acupuncture on epileptic seizures in humans in a controlled clinical setting. Treatment was administered by two Chinese professors of acupuncture. Effect was measured by change in seizure frequency. Twenty-nine patients with chronic intractable epilepsy completed the study. They were randomized in two groups; 15 were given classical acupuncture and 14 were given sham acupuncture. There was a reduction in seizure frequency in both groups, which did not reach a level of statistical significance. There was also an increase in the number of seizure-free weeks in both groups, which reached a level of significance in the sham group. Thus, we have not been able to prove a beneficial effect of acupuncture in chronic intractable epilepsy.  (+info)

(3/332) Biomechanical response to acupuncture needling in humans.

During acupuncture treatments, acupuncture needles are manipulated to elicit the characteristic "de qi" reaction widely viewed as essential to acupuncture's therapeutic effect. De qi has a biomechanical component, "needle grasp," which we have quantified by measuring the force necessary to pull an acupuncture needle out of the skin (pullout force) in 60 human subjects. We hypothesized that pullout force is greater with both bidirectional needle rotation (BI) and unidirectional rotation (UNI) than no rotation (NO). Acupuncture needles were inserted, manipulated, and pulled out by using a computer-controlled acupuncture needling instrument at eight acupuncture points and eight control points. We found 167 and 52% increases in mean pullout force with UNI and BI, respectively, compared with NO (repeated-measures ANOVA, P < 0.001). Pullout force was on average 18% greater at acupuncture points than at control points (P < 0.001). Needle grasp is therefore a measurable biomechanical phenomenon associated with acupuncture needle manipulation.  (+info)

(4/332) Electroacupuncture prophylaxis of postoperative nausea and vomiting following pediatric tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy.

BACKGROUND: Electrical stimulation of acupuncture point P6 reduces the incidence of postoperative nausea or vomiting (PONV) in adult patients. However, acupressure, laser stimulation of P6, and acupuncture during anesthesia have not been effective for reducing PONV in the pediatric population. The authors studied the effect of electrical P6 acupuncture in awake pediatric patients who had undergone surgery associated with a high incidence of PONV. METHODS: Patients aged 4-18 yr undergoing tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy were randomly assigned to acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or control groups. Acupuncture needles at P6 and a neutral point were placed while patients were anesthetized, and low-frequency electrical stimulation was applied to these points for 20 min in the recovery room while the patients were awake (P6 Acu group). This treatment was compared with sham needles along the arm at acupuncture points not associated with antiemesis (sham group) and a no-needle control group. The arms were wrapped to prevent identification of treatment group, and anesthetic, analgesic, and surgical technique were standardized. Assessed outcomes were occurrence of nausea, occurrence and number of episodes of vomiting, time to vomiting, and use of antiemetic rescue medication. RESULTS: One hundred twenty patients were enrolled in the study, 40 per group. There were no differences in age, weight, sex, or opioid administration between groups. The PONV incidence was significantly lower with P6 acupuncture (25 of 40 or 63%; odds ratio, 0.135; number needed to treat, 3.3; P < 0.001) compared with controls (37 of 40 or 93%). Sham puncture had no effect on PONV (35 of 40 or 88%; P = not significant). Occurrence of nausea was significantly less in P6 Acu (24 of 40 or 60%; odds ratio, 0.121; P < 0.01), but not in the sham group (34 of 40 or 85%) compared with the control group (37 of 40 or 93%). Vomiting occurred in 25 of 40 or 63% in P6 Acu; 35 of 40 or 88% in the sham group, and 31 in 40 or 78% in the control group (P = not significant). Patients receiving sham puncture vomited significantly earlier (P < 0.02) and needed more rescue treatment (33 of 40 or 83%; odds ratio, 3.48; P < 0.02) compared with P6 Acu (23 of 40 or 58%) and the control group (24 of 40 or 60%). CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative P6 electroacupuncture in awake patients significantly reduced the occurrence of nausea compared with the sham and control groups, but it did not significantly reduce the incidence or number of episodes of emesis or the use of rescue antiemetics. Sham acupuncture may exacerbate the severity but not the incidence of emesis. The efficacy of P6 acupuncture for PONV prevention is similar to commonly used pharmacotherapies. Its appropriate role in prevention and treatment of PONV requires further study.  (+info)

(5/332) Transcutaneous electrical stimulation of an auricular acupuncture point decreases anesthetic requirement.

BACKGROUND: German anesthesiologists have long used transcutaneous electrical stimulation of an acupuncture point near the tragus to reduce anesthetic requirement in unblinded and uncontrolled trials. This is known as auricular electrically stimulated analgesia. The authors therefore tested the hypothesis that auricular electrically stimulated analgesia reduces anesthetic requirement. METHODS: In a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial, volunteers were anesthetized twice with desflurane. Electrical stimulation of an auricular acupuncture point in the vicinity of the tragus was used on 1 randomly assigned day, and no electrical stimulation of the same point was used on the other study day. Treatment consisted of bilateral electrical stimulation of the lateralization control point, 3 cm anterior to the tragus. The 10-mA current was set to 299 Hz on the dominant side of the face and to 149 Hz on the contralateral side. Anesthetic requirement was determined by the Dixon up-and-down method and was defined by the average desflurane concentration required to prevent purposeful movement of the extremities in response to noxious electrical stimulation. RESULTS: Ten men and 10 women completed the protocol. Electrical stimulation of the lateralization control point reduced anesthetic requirement by 11 +/- 7% (P < 0.001), with the reduction being similar in women and men. Women required more desflurane to prevent movement on the control day than the men (5.5 +/- 1.0 vs. 4.6 +/- 0.6 vol%; P = 0.028). CONCLUSION: This double-blinded trial with an objective outcome demonstrates that electrical stimulation of the lateralization control point significantly reduces anesthetic requirement.  (+info)

(6/332) Moxibustion in breech version--a descriptive review.

The management of breech presentation at term remains controversial. It appears logical that maternal and perinatal outcomes would be improved if breech presentation could be avoided. External cephalic version is considered a safe procedure if cases are selected appropriately and anaesthesia avoided. Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese method of treatment, which utilizes the heat generated by burning herbal preparations containing the plant Artemisia vulgaris to stimulate the acupuncture points. It is used for breech version with a reported success rate of 84.6% after 34 weeks gestation. Moxibustion technique is cheap, safe, simple, self-administered, non-invasive, painless and generally well tolerated. Although many studies give encouraging results regarding the use of moxibustion in inducing cephalic version of breech presentation, a definitive conclusion cannot be made as most involve small sample sizes and are not randomised. Moxibustion could be an extra option offered to women with breech presentation along with vaginal delivery, caesarean section and external cephalic version. This article discusses the possible role of moxibustion in correction of breech presentation in the hope that, some interest will be stimulated in what is a very interesting area for future research.  (+info)

(7/332) Evidence of connective tissue involvement in acupuncture.

Acupuncture needle manipulation gives rise to "needle grasp," a biomechanical phenomenon characterized by an increase in the force necessary to pull the needle out of the tissue (pullout force). This study investigates the hypothesis that winding of connective tissue, rather than muscle contraction, is the mechanism responsible for needle grasp. We performed 1) measurements of pullout force in humans with and without needle penetration of muscle; 2) measurements of pullout force in anesthetized rats, with and without needle rotation, followed by measurements of connective tissue volume surrounding the needle; 3) imaging of rat abdominal wall explants, with and without needle rotation, using ultrasound scanning acoustic microscopy. We found 1) no evidence that increased penetration of muscle results in greater pullout force than increased penetration of subcutaneous tissue; 2) that both pullout force and subcutaneous tissue volume were increased by needle rotation; 3) that increased periodic architectural order was present in subcutaneous tissue with rotation, compared with no rotation. These data support connective tissue winding as the mechanism responsible for the increase in pullout force induced by needle rotation. Winding may allow needle movements to deliver a mechanical signal into the tissue and may be key to acupuncture's therapeutic mechanism.  (+info)

(8/332) Treatment of cough and dyspnea due to acute bronchitis by plaster for cough and dyspnea--a report of 735 cases.

In the light of the theory of treating the internal disease externally, an externally used plaster for treating cough and dyspnea due to acute bronchitis (Ke Chuan Yi Tie Kang [symbol: see text]-[symbol: see text]) was successfully applied to 735 cases of acute bronchitis (the treatment group), with the other 423 cases treated with routine western drugs as controls. The results showed that the cure rate in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.01); and that in the treatment group, the cure rate for the wind-cold type of acute bronchitis was significantly higher than that for the wind-heat type of acute bronchitis (P < 0.01).  (+info)

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