RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the different effect of different needle retaining times of electroacupuncture on tri geminal neuralgia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-two cases were randomly divided into an observation group (26 cases) and a control group (26 cases). Electroacupuncture at four pairs of acupoints including Xiaguan (ST 7) and Dicang (ST 4), Jiache (ST 6) and Chengjiang (CV 24), Sibai (ST 2) and Yingxiang (LI 20) and acupoints selected according to differentiation were used in both groups. The needle-retaining time of every pair of acupoints was 30 min (120 min together) in observation group, and that was 10 min (40 min together) in control group. The treatment frequency was once a day. The effect was evaluated after 4 weeks.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The cured rate of observation group (84.6%, 22/26) was better than that of control group (34.6%, 9/26) (P < 0.01), and the total effective rate of the former (100.0%, 26/26) was also better than that of the latter (80.8%, 21/26) (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The effect of needle-retaining time for 30 min at every pair of acupoints is better than that for 10 min in electroacupuncture on trigeminal neuralgia.</p>