RESUMO
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In most cases, analgesia is required for extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) treatment. Commonly, a combination of a sedative and a synthetic opioid is used, with a wide range of undesirable side effects. To provide an alternative analgesic especially for outpatients, we performed a prospective trial investigating the usefulness of acupuncture. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A series of 90 patients were included in the study, 49% of whom presented with renal calculi and 10% with proximal-, 10% with middle-, and 31% with distal-ureteral stones. Pain control was performed by acupuncture in the traditional Asian method. The intensity of pain and patient satisfaction were assessed a visual analog scale (VAS). Patients with previous SWL under conventional analgesia also were asked about differences in pain and satisfaction. RESULTS: No significant side effects occurred. The median pain score on the VAS was 2/10 (interquartile range 1). Six patients (6.6%) specified a pain intensity of >4, and in 4 patients (4.4%), a conventional analgesic had to be given to finish SWL. The median satisfaction level was 2/5 (interquartile range 1). Nearly all (93.4%) of the patients would opt again for acupuncture in case of repeated SWL. CONCLUSION: In many patients, acupuncture achieves satisfactory pain control for SWL. Further randomized multi-institutional studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.
