CHICAGO – Endoscopic ultrasound can be a long, uncomfortable, and even painful procedure. But electroacupuncture starting 45 minutes before the procedure significantly decreased the need for drugs to control pain in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study of 64 patients in Hong Kong.
Dr. Anthony Y. Teoh, who did the endoscopies, and Dr. Wing Wa Leung, the acupuncturist, showed us how they did it in an interview at the annual Digestive Disease Week. Both are of the department of surgery at Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The 32 patients in the electroacupuncture group took a median of only two hits of patient-controlled analgesia with a mean of 0.22 mg/kg propofol, compared with 10 hits for the 32 patients in the control group with a mean of 0.71 mg/kg propofol. Patients rated their pain significantly lower and their satisfaction with the procedure significantly higher in the electroacupuncture group than in the control group, while it made no difference for the endoscopist, whose satisfaction scores were similar between groups. Fifteen patients with acupuncture said they’d be willing to repeat the procedure, compared with eight control patients.
Does that mean electroacupuncture will be coming to your endoscopy suite? Hear what Dr. Teoh and Dr. Leung have to say.
They reported having no disclosures.
The video associated with this article is no longer available on this site. Please view all of our videos on the MDedge YouTube channel.
On Twitter @sherryboschert