Clinical Trials

Controlled Clinical Trials Of Acupuncture Efficacy:
A Selected Bibliography Prepared By Richard Hammerschlag, Ph.D.
(Summaries are from authors' Abstract)

ALCOHOLISM --Bullock ML, Culleton PD and Olander RT (1989) Controlled trial of acupuncture for severe recidivist alcoholism. Lancet 1:1435­1439.

"Significant treatment effects persisted at the end of the six­month follow­up: by comparison with treatment patients more control patients expressed a moderate to strong need for alcohol, and had more than twice the number of both drinking episodes and admissions to a detoxification centre."

ANTIEMETIC (Postoperative nausea) --Barsoum G, Perry EP and Fraser IA (1990) Postoperative nausea is relieved by acupressure. J Roy Soc Med 83:86­89.

"The severity of nausea ... was significantly reduced by acupressure on both days 1 and 2, in comparison to both controls and drug treated patients."

ANTIEMETIC (Cancer chemotherapy) --Dundee JW, Ghaly RG, Fitzpatrick KTJ, Abram WP and Lynch GA (1989) Acupuncture prophylaxis of cancer chemotherapy­induced sickness. J Roy Soc Med 82:268­271.

"..Acupuncture was an effective antiemetic in patients having cancer chemotherapy..."

ANTIEMETIC (Morning sickness) --De Aloysio D and Penacchioni P (1992) Morning sickness control in early pregnancy by neiguan point acupressure. Obstet Gynecol 80:852­854.

"Use of acupressure resulted in a significantly lower frequency of morning sickness compared with placebo treatment. More than a 60% positive effect was found with unilateral and bilateral acupressure, compared with an approximately 30% positive effect of placebo acupressure."

DYSMENORRHEA --Helms JM (1987) Acupuncture for the management of primary dysmenorrhea. Obstet Gynecol 69:5156.

"There was a 41% reduction of analgesic medicine used by women in the Real Acupuncture group ... and no change or increased use of medication seen in the other groups."

ENDOSCOPY (Peptic ulcer examination) --Cahn AM, Carayon P, Hill C and Flamant (1978) Acupuncture in gastroscopy. Lancet 1:182­183.

"The endoscopy was much easier and better tolerated after real acupuncture had been performed."

ENDOSCOPY (Colon cancer examination) --Wang HH, Chang, YH and Liu, DM (1992) A study in the effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia for colonoscopic examination compared with conventional premedication. Amer J Acu 20:217­221.

"The overall success rate with acupuncture analgesia was similar to the results in 100 volunteers who received conventional premedication without additional complications. The side effects, particularly dizziness, were less frequent in the acupuncture group than in the premedicated group."

EPICONDYLALGIA (tennis elbow) --Haker E and Lundeberg T (1990) Acupuncture treatment in epicondylalgia: A comparative study of two acupuncture techniques. Clin J Pain 6:221­226.

"After 10 treatments significant differences were observed between the groups favoring the classical acupuncture technique in relation to subjective and objective outcome."

HYPERTENSION --Williams T, Mueller K and Cornwall MW (1991) Effect of acupuncture­point stimulation on diastolic blood pressure in hypertensive subjects:a preliminary study. Physical Therapy 71:523­529.

"... analysis of variance revealed a significant, immediate poststimulation reduction of diastolic blood pressure for the Acu­ES [electrical stimulation at acupuncture points] group versus the Sham­ES [electrical stimulation applied to non­acupuncture point areas] group."

LOW­BACK PAIN --Lehmann TR, Russell DW and Spratt KF (1983) The impact of patients with nonorganic physical findings on a controlled trial of transcutaneo IS electrical nerve stimulation and electroacupuncture. Spine 8:626­634.

"Statistically significant findings demonstrated that the acupuncture group enjoyed more relief of peak pain and more relief of pain on an average day at the three­month return assessment."

MIGRAINE --Vincent CA (1989) A controlled trial of the treatment of migraine by acupuncture. Clin J Pain 5:305312.

"True acupuncture was significantly more effective than the control procedure in reducing the pain of migraine headache. Posttreatment reductions in pain scores and medication of 43 and 38%, respectively, were recorded in the true acupuncture group and were maintained at 4­month and 1­year follow­up."