CAN ACUPUNCTURE HAVE SPECIFIC EFFECTS ON HEALTH - A SYSTEMATIC REVIEWOF ACUPUNCTURE ANTIEMESIS TRIALS

The effects of acupuncture on health are generally hard to assess. Sti mulation of the P6 acupuncture point is used to obtain an antiemetic e ffect and this provides an excellent model to study the efficacy of ac upuncture. Thirty-three controlled trials have been published worldwid e in which the P6 acupuncture point was stimulated for treatment of na usea and/or vomiting associated with chemotherapy, pregnancy, or surge ry. P6 acupuncture was equal or inferior to control in all four trials in which it was administered under anaesthesia; in 27 of the remainin g 29 trials acupuncture was statistically superior. A second analysis was restricted to 12 high-quality randomized placebo-controlled trials in which P6 acupuncture point stimulation was not administered under anaesthesia. Eleven of these trials, involving nearly 2000 patients, s howed an effect of P6. The reviewed papers showed consistent results a cross different investigators, different groups of patients, and diffe rent forms of acupuncture point stimulation. Except when administered under anaesthesia, P6 acupuncture point stimulation seems to be an eff ective antiemetic technique. Researchers are faced with a choice betwe en deciding that acupuncture does have specific effects, and changing from 'Does acupuncture work?' to a set of more practical questions; or deciding that the evidence on P6 antiemesis does not provide sufficie nt proof, and specifying what would constitute acceptable evidence.