Abstract
Objective:
To determine the acceptability and feasibility of acupuncture for the treatment of endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain.
Design:
A prospective, randomized controlled feasibility study.
Setting:
Outpatient setting in Sydney, Australia.
Subjects:
Participants who were aged 18–45 years, had a confirmed laparoscopic diagnosis of endometriosis in the past 5 years, and had regular menstrual periods and mean pelvic pain scores ≥4/10.
Interventions:
Sixteen acupuncture treatments delivered by registered acupuncturists using a standardized point protocol over 8 weeks, twice per week plus usual care compared with usual care alone.
Outcome measures:
Primary outcome measures were feasibility, safety, and acceptability of the acupuncture intervention. Secondary outcomes were changes in self-reported pelvic pain scores, changes in quality of life as measured by the Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP-30), changes in descending pain modulation, and changes in systemic inflammation (plasma interleukin [IL-6] concentrations).
Results:
Twenty-nine participants were eligible to participate, with 19 participants completing the trial. There was unequal withdrawals between groups; the acupuncture group had a withdrawal rate of 14% compared with 53% in usual care. Adverse events were uncommon (6.7%) and generally mild. A 1.9 point decrease in median nonmenstrual pain scores and a 2.0 decrease in median menstrual pain scores between baseline and end of trial were observed in the acupuncture group only. Improvements in all domains of the EHP-30 were seen in the acupuncture group, with no changes seen in usual care. There was no difference between baseline and end of treatment in IL-6 concentrations for either group.
Conclusions:
Acupuncture was an acceptable, well-tolerated treatment and it may reduce pelvic pain and improve quality of life; however, usual care was not an acceptable control group.
Trial Registration:
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
