Needle retention is one of the important links in clinical
acupuncture, thus, ancient medical scholars emphasized its value. This
paper summarizes and evaluates the recent
literature about
needle retention
time in terms of
course of
disease, category of
disease,
patient's condition and
acupuncture location. The modern researches verify and develop the
knowledge of
needle retention in ancient times. However, study designs of
randomized controlled trial for
evidence-based medicine are not many, most of which are observational studies. In the
future, clinical
research need to apply scientific design based on
Chinese medicine theory to investigate the principles of
needle retention and the optimized
needle retention
time. This
will consequently guide the
standardization and systemization of
acupuncture in clinical practice.