Acupuncture analgesia and its application in cranio-maxillofacial surgical procedures

Background: The present study investigated the use of acupuncture analgesia in maxillofacial surgery. Patients and methods: Acupuncture analgesia was applied in 120 patients. In 20 of these, surgery was carried out under general anaesthesia in combination with acupuncture analgesia. In 100 patients, acupuncture analgesia was applied in addition to traditional postoperative analgesia. In case of troublesome postoperative pain, it was necessary to carry out additional sessions (1-4) of acupuncture stimulation. Results: When acupuncture analgesia was used, the pulse rate and blood pressure during surgery generally remained stable. In the present study serum cortisol was also measured and showed only minor elevation. Discussion: The present study demonstrated favourable results when the first variant of the brake method of acupoint stimulation was used for 40-50 min with additional manual twirling of the needles. This involved inserting needles into the acupoints and, using slow, rolling manual movements increasing the amplitude step-by-step provoking simultaneous especially strong patient sensations. Conclusion: Acupuncture analgesia can be a useful adjunct to conventional anaesthesia in maxillofacial surgery. (c) 2004 European Association for Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery