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Effect of manual acupuncture (twisting; lifting and thrusting; combination of them) at acupoints Nei-guan (PL-6) in the fore limb and Zu-san-li (ST-36) in the hind limb on mean arterial blood pressure was investigated in anesthetized rats. During acupuncture treatment mean arterial blood pressure was decreased but fluctuated in intact rats, intensively decreased after vagotomy and completely abolished after spinalization. The depressor response was significantly higher with combination treatment than others at PL-6, rather than at ST-36. Results suggest that manual acupuncture at either PL-6 or ST-36 can reduce blood pressure in anesthetized rats, and its modulatory site might be supraspinal.

Objectives: To evaluate the advantages of adding acupuncture to standard postoperative pain management for open radical prostatectomy (RP). Materials and methods: A randomized controlled trial (1:1:1) comparing routine postoperative analgesic care (control [CON]) vs the addition of press tack needle acupuncture (ACU) or press tack placebo acupressure (SHAM) for pain management after open RP was performed. A total of 126 patients were enrolled between February 2020 and April 2021. After open RP, the CON group received standard postoperative analgesia, the ACU group received long‐term acupuncture with press tacks at specific points (P‐6, Shenmen and SP‐6) along with standard analgesia, and the SHAM group received placebo press tacks at the same acupuncture points alongside standard analgesia. The primary endpoint was postoperative pain measured on a numeric rating scale, the NRS‐11, calculated as the area under the curve. The cumulative use of routine postoperative analgesics, time to first defaecation, and quality of life were analysed using the Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test, Fisher's exact test, and Pearson's chi‐squared test. Results: The ACU group reported significantly less postoperative pain compared to the SHAM (P = 0.007) and CON groups (P = 0.02). There were no significant difference in median (interquartile range) cumulative pain medication usage, time to first defaecation (CON: 37 [33, 44] h; SHAM: 37 [33, 42] h; ACU: 37 [33, 41] h; P > 0.9), or health status at discharge (EuroQol five‐dimension, five‐level general health assessment questionnaire: CON: 70 [65–83]; SHAM: 70 [60–80]; ACU: 70 [50–80]). Conclusion: Incorporating acupuncture into postoperative pain management can improve patient postoperative outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a response to a comment on a study about acupuncture for perioperative pain after open radical prostatectomy. The authors address the comment by discussing the complexity of pain experiences, the generalizability of their results, the choice of acupuncture points, and the impact of acupuncture on recovery parameters. They agree that their study opens up possibilities for non-pharmacological pain management in urology and encourage future research to explore patient diversity, qualitative results, the neurophysiological basis of acupuncture, and the implementation of acupuncture in routine care. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare and the study has not been presented elsewhere. [Extracted from the article]

While balancing yin and yang is one basic principle of Chinese medicine, balancing methods for combination of meridians and acupoints had been described throughout the history of Chinese medicine. We have identified six historical systems for combinations of acupuncture points in historical writings. All of them represent symmetrical combinations which are defined by the steps in the Chinese Clock. Taking the historical systems as a basis, we calculated the possible combinations that fit into these systems they revealed, leading to a total of 19 systems offering new balancing combinations. Merging the data of these 19 systems, there are 7 combinatorial options for every meridian. On the basis of this data, we calculated 4-meridian combinations with an ideal balance pattern, which is given when all meridians balance each other. We identified 5 of these patterns for every meridian, so we end up with 60 patterns for all the 12 meridians but we find multiple overlapping. Finally, 15 distinct patterns remain. By combining this theoretical concept with the Image and Mirror Concept, we developed an acupuncture research protocol. This protocol potentially solves some problems of acupuncture trials because it represents a rational reproducible procedure independent of examiner experience, but the resulting treatment is individualized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]