[Acupuncture for the treatment of pain-a prospective study.]

Acupuncture is increasingly being used in Western medicine. In the present study the effect of acupuncture treatment was examined in 60 patients with chronic pain. The long-term success after 6 months was evaluated in 45 patients. Calculated on the basis of an index of the frequency of pain, its duration and intensity, a global success rate of 64% was found directly after the therapy and of 69% 6 months later. Furthermore, we examined to what extent the success of the therapy was dependent on several variables. It appeared that the consumption of analgesics could be reduced significantly in patients in whom the treatment was successful. All patients had been treated before by several methods. Because of the small number of side-effects and the patients' high degree of acceptance as well as the success of the treatment, we consider acupuncture an effective method in the treatment of chronic pain.