Acupuncture for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome

Abstract

Background-Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common, costly, and difficult to treat disorder that impairs health-related quality of life and work productivity. Evidence-based treatment guidelines have been unable to provide guidance on the effects of acupuncture for IBS because the only previous systematic review included only small, heterogeneous and methodologically unsound trials. Objectives-The primary objectives were to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for treating IBS. Search methods-MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, and the Chinese databases Sino-Med, CNKI, and VIP were searched through November 2011. Selection criteria-Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared acupuncture with sham acupuncture, other active treatments, or no (specific) treatment, and RCTs that evaluated acupuncture as an adjuvant to another treatment, in adults with IBS were included. Data collection and analysis-Two authors independently assessed the risk of bias and extracted data. We extracted data for the outcomes overall IBS symptom severity and healthrelated quality of life. For dichotomous data (e.g. the IBS Adequate Relief Question), we

A Treatment Trial of Acupuncture in IBS Patients

“…Our findings are consistent with the majority of trials of acupuncture in IBS included in the recent Cochrane Database Review 12 and the subsequent study by Schneider and colleagues 13 from Germany. Like our trial, the German study found a numerically small superiority of improvement in patients receiving acupuncture compared to patients receiving sham acupuncture.…”

A Treatment Trial of Acupuncture in IBS Patients

“…Our findings are consistent with the majority of trials of acupuncture in IBS included in the recent Cochrane Database Review 12 and the subsequent study by Schneider and colleagues 13 from Germany. Like our trial, the German study found a numerically small superiority of improvement in patients receiving acupuncture compared to patients receiving sham acupuncture.…”

Sham acupuncture is as efficacious as true acupuncture for the treatment of IBS: A randomized placebo controlled trial

“…There were however significant benefits observed in symptom responses in both groups and QOL measures. Our study is the largest study of sham vs true acupuncture and provides strong support for previous smaller studies as well as a larger nested study that concluded true acupuncture was not superior to sham acupuncture.…”

Battlefield acupuncture appears to be an effective therapy for pain management

“…Others have studied the therapeutic effect of acupuncture following tonsillectomy, vascular surgery, childbirth, irritable bowel disease and colonoscopy. 18 –20,25 –28 In this study, the most common region of pain was the back (21%). Of note, Federman et al 11 observed a higher rate of chronic musculoskeletal back conditions (40%).…”

A Treatment Trial of Acupuncture in IBS Patients

“…Our findings are consistent with the majority of trials of acupuncture in IBS included in the recent Cochrane Database Review 12 and the subsequent study by Schneider and colleagues 13 from Germany. Like our trial, the German study found a numerically small superiority of improvement in patients receiving acupuncture compared to patients receiving sham acupuncture.…”

Sham acupuncture is as efficacious as true acupuncture for the treatment of IBS: A randomized placebo controlled trial

“…There were however significant benefits observed in symptom responses in both groups and QOL measures. Our study is the largest study of sham vs true acupuncture and provides strong support for previous smaller studies as well as a larger nested study that concluded true acupuncture was not superior to sham acupuncture.…”

Battlefield acupuncture appears to be an effective therapy for pain management

“…Others have studied the therapeutic effect of acupuncture following tonsillectomy, vascular surgery, childbirth, irritable bowel disease and colonoscopy. 18 –20,25 –28 In this study, the most common region of pain was the back (21%). Of note, Federman et al 11 observed a higher rate of chronic musculoskeletal back conditions (40%).…”

A Treatment Trial of Acupuncture in IBS Patients

“…Our findings are consistent with the majority of trials of acupuncture in IBS included in the recent Cochrane Database Review 12 and the subsequent study by Schneider and colleagues 13 from Germany. Like our trial, the German study found a numerically small superiority of improvement in patients receiving acupuncture compared to patients receiving sham acupuncture.…”

Sham acupuncture is as efficacious as true acupuncture for the treatment of IBS: A randomized placebo controlled trial

“…There were however significant benefits observed in symptom responses in both groups and QOL measures. Our study is the largest study of sham vs true acupuncture and provides strong support for previous smaller studies as well as a larger nested study that concluded true acupuncture was not superior to sham acupuncture.…”

Battlefield acupuncture appears to be an effective therapy for pain management

“…Others have studied the therapeutic effect of acupuncture following tonsillectomy, vascular surgery, childbirth, irritable bowel disease and colonoscopy. 18 –20,25 –28 In this study, the most common region of pain was the back (21%). Of note, Federman et al 11 observed a higher rate of chronic musculoskeletal back conditions (40%).…”