The Effects of Acupuncture Against Postoperative Nausea and Vomit After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2021-02-05
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), represents a common condition after surgery and
anesthesia. Acupuncture has been used for centuries for analgesia and quality of life
improvement in addition to low cost. This study is a random control trial concerning the
antiemetic efficacy of acupuncture associated with intravenous antiemetics in laparoscopic
cholecystectomy, in comparison to patients under only antiemetic administration.
One hundred patients were enrolled, regardless of their sex, age, and comorbidity and were
randomly allocated in one of two groups. Both anesthesia and antiemetic medication were
personalized according to each patient's medical history. In the study group, after
anesthesia induction and before pneumoperitoneum application, a sterile stainless steel 0,25
x 25mm acupuncture needle was inserted bilaterally at the PC6 for 20 minutes, rotated
manually clockwise and then anticlockwise every 5 minutes and then removed. Fisher's exact
test was chosen for statistic evaluation.
There were 8 PONV cases in the study group against 18 cases in the control group. Fisher's
exact test highlighted a p-value of P=0,03, marking the difference between the two groups as
statistically significant.
Concluding, acupuncture presents a remarkable action against PONV after Laparoscopic
Cholecystectomy (LPC). Another remarkable trait of acupuncture is the safety that it offers
during application without provoking severe adverse effects. Furthermore, reduced medical
costs thanks to decreased postoperative use of antiemetic medication, decreased patients'
hospitalization, and reduced re-hospitalization possibility have to be noted. Finally, it has
to be mentioned that despite LPC is in general terms painless, the analgesic effects of
acupuncture should not be disregarded