A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of Aelectroacupuncture Treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia / 上海针灸杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To systematically assess the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia. Method Randomized controlled trials of a electroacupuncture treatment for trigeminal neuralgia were sought by a computer search of CNKI,Wan Fang Data,VIP,CBM,PubMed,EMbas and The Cochrane Library.The retrieval time limit was from March 1996 to March 2016. Two reviewers sifted the literature and extracted data independently according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria andthen assessed the riskofbias of the included literatureusing the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool.Ameta-analysis was made using RevMan 5.3.Result Finally, 12 articles were included with atotal of 847 subjects.The results ofmeta-analysis showed that the total efficacy rate was higher in the electroacupuncture group than in the control group [OR=4.04,95%CI(2.67, 6.13),P<0.00001].There were no statistically significant differences in the VAS score [MD=﹣0.06,95%CI(﹣0.59, 0.47),P=0.82] and the recurrence rate [OR=0.64,95%CI(0.05,7.45),P=0.54] between the electroacupuncture and control groups.Conclusion The currentlimited evidenceshows that the total efficacy rate fortrigeminal neuralgiais higher in the electroacupuncture group than in the control group.There are no statistically significant differences in the VAS score and the recurrence rate of trigeminal neuralgia between the electroacupuncture and control groups of patients.But the conclusions need more high-qualitytrials for validation owing to the limitation of the sample size of the included studies.