Effect of acupuncture on post-hemorrhoidectomy pain: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

ObjectivesTo observe the clinical efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture (EA) in relieving pain after hemorrhoidectomy treatment for mixed hemorrhoids.DesignThis was a randomized controlled trial.MethodsWe conducted a single-center, single-blind, and randomized controlled clinical trial. Seventy-two patients with mixed hemorrhoids who had undergone hemorrhoidectomy were randomly assigned to the following 2 groups: the EA treatment group (EA) received surround needling with EA (n=36), and the control group received sham acupuncture (SA) treatment (n=36). The treatment was conducted within 15 min after the completion of the surgery and lasted for 30 min. The pain intensity was recorded by using the visual analog scale as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes were verbal rating scale and Wong–Baker Faces Pain Rating. These measurements were evaluated at 11 time points: once every hour in the first 8 h after the treatment, 24 and 48 h after the treatment, and at the first defecation. Besides, quality of life was measured by Symptom Checklist-90 Scale at 24 and 48 h follow-ups.ResultsThe EA group had significantly lower visual analog scale scores at the 3 time points of 6, 24 h, and during the defecation (p<0.05). Verbal rating scale showed a significantly lower score in the treatment group compared to the SA group at 4 h after the treatment as well as during defecation (p<0.05). The Wong–Baker Faces Pain Rating scores of EA group were significantly lower at 5, 7, and 8 h after treatment and during defecation (p<0.05) compared with those of SA group.ConclusionAcupuncture is effective in alleviating postoperative pain in patients who have undergone hemorrhoidectomy.

The Role of Acupuncture in Relieving Post-Hemorrhoidectomy Pain: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…The most common reasons for excluding studies were not using recognized outcome measurements for pain (27 studies) and the use of the traditional Chinese medicine in any arm (8 studies). Four studies ( 20 , 28 – 30 ) were included eventually. The flow chart of the selection process is presented in Figure 1 .…”

“…The four included studies were all RCTs conducted in China, with one study published in English ( 30 ) and three ( 20 , 28 , 29 ) in Chinese. The characteristics of included studies are shown in Table 1 .…”

The Effectiveness of Acupuncture Therapy in Patient with Hemorrhoid: A Case Report

“…Rangsangan listrik pada jarum akupunktur menggunakan frekuensi rendah (2-5 Hz) untuk merangsang pelepasan betaendorfin yang efektif dalam mengurangi nyeri dan inflamasi (Mayor, 2006.). Sesuai dengan penelitian sebelumnya, retensi jarum dilakukan selama 30 menit dengan 12 sesi terapi akupunktur untuk mencapai hasil yang optimal (LI et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2018). Pada kasus ini, pasien menyelesaikan hingga 11 sesi terapi akupunktur karena situasi pandemi COVID-19.…”

Stimulation Parameters of Manual Acupuncture and Their Measurement

“…As an ancient treatment method, the clinical effect of manual acupuncture (MA) has been proved in different ways, including randomized control trials [1, 2] and basic experiments [3, 4]. According to the theory of acupuncture, the stimulation of MA comes from specific finger manipulation that drives the translation, rotation, or tremor of the needle [5].…”