The Impact of Acupuncture on Pain Intensity, Nausea, and Vomiting for Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Meta-analysis Study

Acupuncture may have some potential in pain relief after laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and this meta-analysis aims to explore the impact of acupuncture on pain intensity, nausea and vomiting for patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

PubMed, EMbase, Web of science, EBSCO, Cochrane library databases, CNKI, VIP, and Wangfang were systematically searched, and we included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect of acupuncture on pain control for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Five RCTs and 366 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, compared with control intervention for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, acupuncture was associated with significantly reduced pain scores at 6 hours [mean difference (MD)=-0.86; 95% CI=-1.37 to -0.34; P =0.001, 2 RCTs) and pain scores at 8 to 10 hours (MD=-0.71; 95% CI=-1.13 to -0.28; P =0.001, 2 RCTs), decreased incidence of nausea (odds ratio=0.10; 95% CI=0.03-0.34; P =0.0003, 3 RCTs), and vomiting (odds ratio=0.11; 95% CI=0.01-0.85; P =0.03, 3 RCTs), but demonstrated no obvious impact on pain scores at 12 to 24 hours (MD=-0.38; 95% CI=-1.02 to 0.27; P =0.25, 2 RCTs).

Acupuncture may be effective to reduce pain intensity, nausea, and vomiting for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.