Saam Acupuncture for Treating Functional Dyspepsia: A Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Integrative Medicine
• Clinical Trials

Background:

• Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a prevalent gastrointestinal disorder impacting quality of life and healthcare costs.
• Saam acupuncture, a traditional Korean medicine technique, is commonly used for FD management in clinical practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility, preliminary effectiveness, and safety of Saam acupuncture for treating FD.
• To evaluate recruitment, completion, and adherence rates in a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Main Methods:

• A pilot, pragmatic, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted with 24 FD patients.
• Participants were randomized to receive Saam acupuncture plus usual care or usual care alone.
• Intervention involved individualized Saam acupuncture thrice weekly for 4 weeks, with assessments at Weeks 4, 8, and 12.

Main Results:

• Feasibility outcomes included a 60% recruitment rate, 79.2% completion rate, and 83.3% acupuncture adherence.
• While no immediate differences in overall dyspepsia symptoms were observed at Week 4, significant improvements emerged at Weeks 8 and 12.
• The Saam acupuncture group showed improvements in early satiety, quality of life (FD-QoL, EQ-5D), and no reported adverse events.

Conclusions:

• Saam acupuncture demonstrates feasibility, preliminary effectiveness, and safety as a treatment for functional dyspepsia.
• Further large-scale randomized controlled trials are necessary to confirm these findings and establish its efficacy.