Traditional and Battlefield Acupuncture Provide Post-Op Pain Relief and Reduced Need for Opioids

PainRelief.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Dr. Brinda Krish: Acupuncture is a low risk “do no harm” procedure that can lower opioid consumption in patients and better alleviate post-operative patient pain and increase the patient satisfaction of the overall surgical experience.

Traditional acupuncture (TA):

TA patients consumed a significantly lower 24-hr PO (oral) Milligram Morphine equivalent (MME) of 20.4 mg compared to that of control patients (56.0 mg; p<0.001).

VAS scores in the 24-hr post-operative period were significantly reduced in the TA group (p<0.001) across all of the measured post-operative time periods (6,12,18, 24 hours). At 24 hours post-surgery traditional acupuncture patients reported 50% average lower pain scores (2±1) than that of control patients (4±1).

Patient post-operative patient satisfaction scores were 60% higher in patients receiving traditional acupuncture (8±1) than patients receiving controls (5±2). (p< 0.001). 

Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA):

BFA patients consumed a significantly lower 24-hr PO (oral) Milligram Morphine equivalent (MME) of 17.4 mg compared to that of control patients (35.0 mg; p<0.05).

VAS scores in the 24-hr post-operative period were significantly reduced in the BFA group (p<0.001) across all of the measured post-operative time periods (6,12,18, 24 hours) compared to controls.

BFA provided a 25% increase in patient satisfaction scores (median of 8 vs. 6)

A statistically significant reduction in the incidence of PONV was observed in BFA patients (3%) compared to controls (38%; p<0.001).

PainRelief.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work?

Dr. Padmavathi Patel: Even though these are promising findings further large scale studies are required.

We continue to provide BFA to our veteran patients for post-surgical pain

PainRelief.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Any disclosures:

Dr. Padmavathi Patel : No disclosures.

 We  would Like to thank  The John D. Dingell VA medical center leadership , surgeons and PACU staff for their support for this project.

Citation:

ASA 2020 abstract discussing:

Acupuncture before surgery means less pain, significantly fewer opioids for Veterans

https://www.asahq.org/about-asa/newsroom/news-releases/2020/10/acupuncture-before-surgery-means-less-pain-significantly-fewer-opioids-for-veterans

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Last Updated on October 15, 2020 by PainRelief.com