Efficacy of electroacupuncture on acute abdomen emergency care: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acute abdomen is a common disease in the emergency department (ED) and usually results in huge medical expenditure. To relieve abdominal pain effectively and reduce bed occupancy rate in emergency rooms, electroacupuncture is a practical method in the treatment of abdominal pain. METHODS/DESIGN: Five hundred patients will be randomly and evenly divided into experimental and control groups. Both groups should have their basic information taken and their bilateral acupuncture points ( Hegu (LI 4), Neiguan (PC6), Zusanli (ST 36), Shangjuxu (ST37), Xiajuxu (ST39), Taichong (LR3), and Taibai (SP3)) will be intervened by electroacupuncture or vaccaria Seeds, in this clinical study. Electroacupuncture has been introduced to this experiment as an auxiliary technique. The experimental group will receive real electroacupuncture, but the control group will receive a placebo electroacupuncture in which transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation will not be turned on. After the intervention, we will evaluate the difference in abdominal pain, the length of stay at the emergent observation ward, and the proportion of revisits with abdominal pain. DISCUSSION: In Taiwan, medical expenditure is increasing annually because of the higher bed occupancy caused by acute abdominal pain in the hospital. We expect that the combined treatment of electroacupuncture and modern medical treatment will not only reduce bed occupancy and the length of ED stay but also effectively decrease the rate of readmission and revisits by 72 h. By means of electroacupuncture, the spiraling cost of health care can eventually be reduced. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03199495. Registered on 27 June 2017.

Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture for Acute Low Back Pain in Emergency Department: A Pilot Cohort Study.

Introduction. Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common complaints in the emergency department (ED). There are several research articles providing evidence for acupuncture for treating chronic LBP but few about treating acute LBP. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of acute LBP in the ED. Materials and methods. A clinical pilot cohort study was conducted. 60 participants, recruited in the ED, were divided into experimental and control groups with 1 dropout during the study. Life-threatening conditions or severe neurological defects were excluded. The experimental group (n = 45) received a series of fixed points of acupuncture. The control group (n = 14) received sham acupuncture by pasting seed-patches near acupoints. Back pain was measured using the visual analog scale (VAS) at three time points: baseline and immediately after and 3 days after intervention as the primary outcome. The secondary outcomes were heart rate variability (HRV) and adverse events. Results. The VAS demonstrated a significant decrease (P value <0.001) for the experimental group after 15 minutes of acupuncture. The variation in HRV showed no significant difference in either group. No adverse event was reported. Conclusion. Acupuncture might provide immediate effect in reducing the pain of acute LBP safely.

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for dizziness and vertigo in emergency department: a pilot cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Dizziness and vertigo account for roughly 4% of chief symptoms in the emergency department (ED). Pharmacological therapy is often applied for these symptoms, such as vestibular suppressants, anti-emetics and benzodiazepines. However, every medication is accompanied with unavoidable side-effects. There are several research articles providing evidence of acupuncture treating dizziness and vertigo but few studies of acupuncture as an emergent intervention in ED. We performed a pilot cohort study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating patients with dizziness and vertigo in ED. METHODS: A total of 60 participants, recruited in ED, were divided into acupuncture and control group. Life-threatening conditions or central nervous system disorders were excluded to ensure participants' safety. The clinical effect of treating dizziness and vertigo was evaluated by performing statistical analyses on data collected from questionnaires of Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of dizziness and vertigo, and heart rate variability (HRV). RESULTS: The variation of VAS demonstrated a significant decrease (p-value: 0.001 and p-value: 0.037) between two groups after two different durations: 30 mins and 7 days. The variation of DHI showed no significant difference after 7 days. HRV revealed a significant increase in high frequency (HF) in the acupuncture group. No adverse event was reported in this study. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture demonstrates a significant immediate effect in reducing discomforts and VAS of both dizziness and vertigo. This study provides clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of acupuncture to treat dizziness and vertigo in the emergency department. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02358239 . Registered 5 February 2015.

Effect of low-power pulsed laser on peripheral nerve regeneration in rats.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether low-power pulsed laser irradiation could affect the regeneration of a 10-mm gap of rat sciatic nerve created between the proximal and distal nerve stumps, which were sutured into silicone rubber tubes. After 8 weeks of recovery, pulsed laser-irradiated groups at frequencies of 5 kHz and 20 kHz both had significantly lower success percentages of regeneration (50% and 44%, respectively) compared to sham-irradiated controls (100%). In addition, qualitative and quantitative histology of the regenerated nerves revealed a less mature ultrastructural organization with a smaller cross-sectional area and a lower number of myelinated axons in both pulsed laser-irradiated groups than in controls. These results suggest that pulsed laser irradiation could elicit suppressing effects on regenerating nerves.