Analgesia with acupuncture in extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy of kidney stones - first results

Introduction. To date, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) has been successfully used with awake anaesthesia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether acupuncture at certain acupuncture points can lower or even substitute the demand for analgesics. Subjects and methods. ESWL-treatments were selected for the two groups using the registration number for randomisation. Both groups rated pain sensation prior to the ESWL treatment using a numeric pain scale. The subjects in the analgesic group received 50 mg pethidine and 10 mg diazepam whereas the subjects in the acupuncture group received acupuncture at the points colon 4 bilateral, liver 3 bilateral, urinary bladder 23 bilateral, gall bladder 25 contralateral to the stone, circulation 6 bilateral, and Ren Mai. Every minute till 21 min after starting the therapy and 10 min after termination, the pain sensation was rated. Analgesics were intravenously applied in all subjects reporting a pain sensation higher than 5. Additionally, the pain management was rated with a non-evaluated questionnaire. Results. In the present study on 102 patients, analgesia by acupuncture was successfully applied to patients who underwent ESWL. The analgesic effect of acupuncture was significantly superior to the analgesic effect of analgesics. In the group treated by acupuncture, 20 subjects received additionally analgesics. In general, these subjects presented bigger kidney stones and were younger. Subjects with left-sided kidney stones required more frequently analgesics. The results were not significant.