Meta-analysis of Acupuncture as Adjuvant Therapy in Improving Gastrointestinal Function of Acute Pancreatitis Patients / 广州中医药大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy for acute pancreatitis (AP).Methods We retrieved the databases ofCNKI,VIP,Wanfang,PubMed,EMBase,and Cochrane Library,selected the relevant randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of AP treated with routine western medicine as control group and treated with routine western medicine combined with acupuncture therapy as trial group.And then,the quality of the qualified RCTs was evaluated,and the end-point outcomes of the RCTs were analyzed by Meta-analysis.Results A total of 7 RCTs involving 371 AP patients were included into the analysis.The time for abdominal pain relief(WMD =-1.44;95％CI-2.38,-0.50),time for abdominal distension relief (WMD =-2.50;5％CI-4.07,-0.73),time for the restart of anal exhaust(WMD =-1.79;95％CI-3.73,-0.14),time for defecation (WMD =-1.95;95％CI-3.51,-0.39),time for the restart of bowel sound(WMD =-1.39;95％CI-2.44,-0.34),time for blood amylase becoming normal(WMD =-2.09;95％CI-3.22,-0.96),and hospitalization time (WMD =-3.70;95％CI-6.04,-1.36) in the trial group were less than those in the control group,and the differences of the above indexes except for the time for the restart of anal exhaust were significant (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy is effective for improving the gastrointestinal function of AP patients,and shortening time for blood amylase becoming normal and hospitalization time.However,due to the low methodological quality,more well-designed randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the therapeutic effect of acupuncture therapy for AP.