AUTHOR=Zhang Xingshuo , Chen Hao , Li Jingqiao , Liu Xingang , Wang Xuesong , Xue Pingju , Lin Miao , Li Jidong , She Yanfen 

TITLE=Effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture on adjuvant analgesia in patients with total knee arthroplasty: a randomized sham-controlled trial

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1275192

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2024.1275192

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of auricular acupuncture (AA) on postoperative analgesia, the degree of postoperative nausea, and the effect of inflammation after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).This was a single-centre, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial.Ninety-six patients were randomly divided into an AA group with an indwelling intradermal needle (n = 48) and a sham auricular acupuncture (SAA) group with a nonpenetrating placebo needle (n = 48). Intra-spinal anaesthesia was adopted in both groups during surgery, and an epidural analgesic pump was implanted after surgery for 48 h. The primary outcome was post-surgery visual analogue score (VAS) of resting and movement states (at 6, 12 h and 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 days). The secondary outcomes included additional doses of analgesic injection during the treatment, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and white blood cell (WBC) count on the 1st, 3rd, and 7th day after the operation, nausea on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day after the operation, the Hospital for Special Surgery Knee Score (HSS) on the 2nd and 12th week after the operation, and adverse events.The VAS in the AA group at 6 h, 12 h, 2, 3 and 5 days after surgery were lower than those of the SAA group (P < 0.05). Among the secondary outcomes, the total dose of additional analgesic injection after surgery in the AA group was lower than that in the SAA group (P < 0.05). The serum CRP on the 1st day after operation in the AA group was lower than that in the SAA group (P < 0.05). The degree of nausea on 2nd day after surgery in the AA group was lower than that in the SAA group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in other outcomes (P > 0.05).In this study, AA was shown to be an effective and safe complementary and alternative therapy for pain relief after TKA, which was able to reduce the total postoperative dose of additional painkillers, decrease serum CRP one day after surgery, and improve the degree of postoperative nausea.Clinical Trial Registration: www.chictr.org.cn, ChiCTR2100054403.