RESUMO
Objective To lay foundation for the establishment of national standards of electroacupuncture devices by exploring the problems existing in their clinical application.Methods An analysis was made of the models, stimulus waveforms and complex waveform characteristics, stimulus frequencies, current intensities and pulse widths of electroacupuncture devices reported in clinical literature. The actual output frequencies of three kinds of electroacupuncture devices were measured using RM6240C multi-channel physiological signal acquisition and processing system to observe the accuracy of their actual output parameters and summarize the problems existing in electroacupuncture devices. Results The reports on electroacupuncture device parameters showed that of the five indicators analyzed statistically, the frequency of described waveforms was the highest (96.2%); the frequencies of described models (88.8%), stimulus frequencies (61.7) and current intensities (11.2%) were next; the frequency of described pulse widths was the lowest (1.8%). The electroacupuncture device most commonly used clinically was G6805 series, but the subtypes were confused because of many manufacturers. The waveform was described more frequently but complex waveform characteristics were less. The difference of frequencies of clinical application of electroacupuncture was larger. They were from 0.8-400 Hz but described less accurately. The output frequency was indicated by the range in most of the literature. The output adjusters of the three kinds of electroacupuncture devices did not correspond to their actual output frequencies. There was a larger difference between the actual range of output frequencies and the adjustable frequency range indicated in the instruction.Conclusions Electroacupuncture devices have the problems of lacking a display unit of actual output parameter values, the adjusting parameters of the knob adjustable controller being not precise enough and the actual values of output frequencies not reaching the rated range in the instruction.