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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03199495

Efficacy of Electroacupuncture on Acute Abdomen Emergency Care

Contrast to conventional Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine is the most common used therapy of complementary and alternative medicine. Taiwan inherits traditional Chinese culture, and the people popularly accept traditional Chinese medicine for general diseases. However, most patients with acute or critical illness are used to admit to emergency department for medical services, and then transfer to the department of related specialist for further treatment. During the course of staying at emergent observation room, some diseases do not meet the criteria of admission and keep for evaluation. The longer of staying at emergent observation room the more waste medical resources.

The Chinese medicine department of Changhua Christian hospital has treated patients, who consulted us at their own dispense, with subjective discomfort but remained at the emergent observation room. Detailed contents of this study include the Chinese and Western medicine, pharmaceutical, nursing cooperation mode, monitoring clinical effect of treating of the patients diagnosed with intestinal obstruction or ileus who complain about nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, abdominal distension or constipation.And the patients were assigned to the control and treatment group. Then we give the treatment group with the electroacupuncture treatment,and the control groupe with the Chinese medicine seeds and the transcutaneous nerve stimulation (no power).The patients were diagnosed with objective analysis of tongue diagnosis, pulse diagnosis, heart rate variability, and questionnaire of pain. Hope that we can assess the efficacy of both two different treatment,and also assess the cost of medical care, and try to complete the syndromes statistical analysis of traditional Chinese medicine for abdominal pain, building the relevance of Chinese medicine physical assessment teaching and clinical efficacy.

The most important of this clinical teaching is that, this is a good opportunity for Chinese medicine and Western medicine to cooperate with each other at the emergency department to confirm the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine, not only in the field of chronic or geriatric diseases, but also in the field of emergency with the evidence base. This factually achieves communication and integration of Chinese and Western medicine, and benefits the public.

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Key information

Age range

20 year–90 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Changhua Christian Hospital

Changhua, Changhua County, 500, Taiwan

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients 20-90 years old,who accepted to enter this trial
  • The patients diagnosed with intestinal obstruction or ileus who complain about nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, abdominal distension or constipation.
  • ICD-10 is R101-R1012

Exclusion criteria

Does not meet the above conditions

Treatment and study plan

electroacupuncture

Other

acupuncture needle with TENS device

Primary outcomes

  1. Assessed the change of pain

    Time frame: Before intervention/ 15 minutes after intervention/ 3 days after the intervention

    The primary outcome evaluation was the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain. Visual analog scale is graded from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain) and has proven its usefulness and clinical validity for the evaluation of pain. Patients were evaluated at two timepoints in this study: intervention (VAS-1), after intervention (VAS-2), 3 days after the intervention (VAS-3).

  2. Assessed the change of pain

    Time frame: Before intervention/ 15 minutes after intervention/ 3 days after the intervention

    The primary outcome evaluation was the the brief pain inventory (BPI) for pain. Brief pain inventory is used to assess the severity of pain and the impact of pain on daily functions. Patients were evaluated at two timepoints in this study: intervention (BPI-1), after intervention (BPI-2), 3 days after the intervention (BPI-3).

Secondary outcomes

  1. The duration that patient stay at emergency department (ED) .

    Time frame: The duration is from the post-treatment to after 3 days that the participant may be discharged.

    The investigators will keep track of the direction (conditions) of post-treatment participant, their time duration at Emergency Department Observation sections.

  2. The ratio is that patient goes to emergency department (ED) because of the same chief complain unexpectedly.

    Time frame: The duration is from the post-treatment to after 3 days that the participant may be discharged.

    The investigators will keep track of the rate of post-treatment participant of return to the emergency department (ED) for the same chief complain within 3 days.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Changhua Christian Hospital

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2017
Primary completion
2018
Study completion
2018
First posted
Jun 27, 2017
Registry last updated
Feb 18, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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