This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Michalek-Sauberer, A. Articles by Kress, H. G. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Michalek-Sauberer, A. Articles by Kress, H. G. Related Collections Ambulatory Alternative Medicine Pain

---

AMBULATORY ANESTHESIA

Perioperative Auricular Electroacupuncture Has No Effect on Pain and Analgesic Consumption After Third Molar Tooth Extraction

Andrea Michalek-Sauberer, MD^*, Harald Heinzl, PhD, Sabine M. Sator-Katzenschlager, MD^*, Gabriel Monov, MD, Erich Knolle, MD^*, and Hans Georg Kress, MD, PhD^*

From the *Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care Medicine (B); Core Unit for Medical Statistics and Informatics; and Bernhard Gottlieb Department of Oral Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Andrea Michalek-Sauberer, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care Medicine (B), Medical University of Vienna, Vienna General Hospital, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. Address e-mail to andrea.michalek-sauberer{at}meduniwien.ac.at.

BACKGROUND: Auricular acupuncture (AA) has been shown to alleviate acute and chronic pain. We investigated the effects of auricular electroacupuncture (AE) on pain and analgesic drug consumption in the first 48 h after unilateral mandibular third molar tooth extraction under local anesthesia in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in 149 patients.

METHODS: Patients received either AA with electrical stimulation (AE, n = 76) or without (AA, n = 37) electrical stimulation at an alternating frequency of 2/100 Hz or a sham AE with metal plates instead of needles and no electrical stimulation, no-needle (NN, n = 36) at the AA points 1 (tooth), 55 (Shen men) and 84 (mouth) during the entire study period. Regularly rated pain intensity (five-point verbal rating scale), consumption of acetaminophen 500 mg tablets and additional rescue medication with mefenamic acid 500 mg were assessed.

RESULTS: The median fraction of time when pain was rated as moderate or worse (upper and lower quartile): AE: 33% (12%, 64%), AA: 22% (6%, 56%), NN: 30% (7%, 53%) did not differ significantly among the treatment groups. There were no significant differences in mean number of acetaminophen 500 mg tablets (range): AE: 5.2 (0–12), AA: 4.6 (0–11), NN: 5.4 (0–10) or percentage of patients requiring additional mefenamic acid: AE: 19%, AA: 18%, NN: 19%.

CONCLUSION: We conclude that neither AE nor AA alone reduce either pain intensity or analgesic consumption in a molar tooth extraction model of acute pain.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Komori, K. Takada, Y. Tomizawa, K. Nishiyama, I. Kondo, M. Kawamata, and M. Ozaki Microcirculatory Responses to Acupuncture Stimulation and Phototherapy Anesth. Analg., February 1, 2009; 108(2): 635 - 640. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Sun, T. J. Gan, J. W. Dubose, and A. S. Habib Acupuncture and related techniques for postoperative pain: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials Br. J. Anaesth., August 1, 2008; 101(2): 151 - 160. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]