Perioperative auricular acupuncture technique via intradermal needling buried for postoperative movement-evoked pain after open radical gastrectomy: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial

Publication date: Available online 9 December 2019Source: European Journal of Integrative MedicineAuthor(s): Xiao-Qing Wang, Pei-Bei Duan, Man Zheng, Qian Xu, Li-Hua Yang, A-Qin WangAbstractIntroductionAuricular acupuncture has been used for pain management. A more recent technique which buries an intradermal needle into the skin may provides long lasting stimulation and enhance analgesia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of perioperative auricular acupuncture technique via intradermal needling buried on postoperative movement-evoked pain reduction of patients with advanced gastric cancer following open radical gastrectomy. In the future, a large-scale RCT will be carried on based on the preliminary data of this study.MethodsThis research is a protocol for a prospective, assessor- and analyst-blinded, randomized controlled pilot trial with two parallel groups. Forty patients who undergo elective open radical gastrectomy will be recruited from 210-bed oncology surgery ward at a 2500-bed medical center between 2019/8/23 and 2020/2/20. Patients will be randomized to either the control group receiving non-invasive sham auricular acupuncture or to the experimental group receiving auricular acupuncture technique via intradermal needling buried, delivered 24 hours before surgery and retained & replaced every 3 days for 6 consecutive days. A standard general anesthetic technique will be used for both groups. Rescue analgesia will be given when ...
Source: European Journal of Integrative Medicine - Category: Complementary Medicine Source Type: research