Original articleGeneral thoracicAnalgesic Effect of Electroacupuncture in Postthoracotomy Pain: A Prospective Randomized Trial
Section snippets
Patient Selection and Surgical Protocol
The study design was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted at the Cardiothoracic Surgical Unit of a tertiary referral university-teaching hospital in Hong Kong. Patients diagnosed to have operable non–small cell lung carcinoma, and whose primary tumor was equal or larger than 4 cm in diameter precluding a video-assisted thoracic surgery approach, were eligible for study. From January 2002 to August 2004, 32 consecutive patients referred to our unit for operable lung
Results
Subjects were recruited from January 2002 to August 2004. A total of 153 patients were screened, and 27 (17.6%) were enrolled. Two patients were subsequently excluded from the study because of postoperative complications unrelated to acupuncture: one patient experienced respiratory failure requiring ventilatory support and the other had gastrointestinal bleeding necessitating endoscopic intervention. Of the 25 remaining patients, 13 were in the EA group and 12 in the SA group. The flowchart of
Comment
There have been an increasing number of randomized controlled trials studying the role of acupuncture in chronic pain management in recent years. The possible mechanisms of action include activation of various endogenous opioid-related pain-inhibiting pathways by means of stimulation of peripheral nerve fibers, activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, profound alteration of local hemodynamics in the state of De-Qi, and activation of the diffuse noxious inhibitory controls system in
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