ABSTRACT
A prospective randomized clinical study. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Anesthiology and Algesiology, Sohag Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University Hospital. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for the management of idiopathic chronic pelvic pain. Thirty six patients with idiopathic chronic pelvic pain were recruited for this study fulfilling the inclusion criteria. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups [18 patients each].Group I subjected to acupuncture treatment and group II received Celebrex 200mg once daily for six weeks. The protocol of acupuncture consisted of standardized set of acupuncture points twice weekly for 30 minutes with electrical stimulation over 6 weeks based on traditional Chinese Medicine organ and meridian theory. A visual analogue scale [VAS] was used to assess the severity of pain before the start of treatment and two weeks, four weeks and six weeks after treatment. The pain was also assessed one month and three months after stoppage of treatment in both groups. Visual analogue scale was significantly reduced after 6 weeks of treatment in both groups [2.2 +/- 0.881 versus 7.6 +/- 0.15 before treatment in group I, P<0.01 and 4.6 +/- 0.109 versus 7.8 +/- 0.24 before treatment in group II, P<0.05]. However, the decrease in the pain level after 6 weeks of treatment was more statistically significant in group I than in group II [2.2 +/- 0.881 versus 4.6 +/- 0.109, P<0.05]. The pain was completely relieved in 66.6% after one month and in 55.5% after three months of group I versus 16.6% and 11.1% of group II respectively, this difference was statistically significant [P<0.01]. No change in the level of pain after one month was encountered in one case of group I [5.6%] and in 7 cases [38.9%] of group II and the difference was statistically significant [P<0.05]. This study could conclude that, acupuncture is an effective and relatively safe therapeutic modality for the management of idiopathic chronic pelvic pain