Acupuncture Electro
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Acupuncture Electro · Jan 2006
Randomized Controlled TrialAuricular acupuncture reduces intraoperative fentanyl requirement during hip arthroplasty--a randomized double-blinded study.
We studied whether auricular acupuncture reduces analgesic requirement during total hip arthroplasty. Sixty-four patients were enrolled in this patient/anesthesiologist-blinded study according to inclusion criteria. They were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture with indwelling fixed needles (points lung, shenmen, forehead and hip) or sham procedure (4 non-acupuncture points on the helix). ⋯ Patients from the acupuncture group required 21% less fentanyl during surgery than those who received sham procedure. Other outcome measures were similar in both groups. Auricular acupuncture reduced fentanyl requirement compared to sham procedure during hip arthroplasty.