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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2008;136:1464-1469
© 2008 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

General Thoracic Surgery

Randomized controlled trial of a special acupuncture technique for pain after thoracotomy

^a Integrative Medicine Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
^b Thoracic Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
^c Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
^d Department of Anesthesiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York

Received for publication February 21, 2008; revisions received June 12, 2008; accepted for publication July 26, 2008.

^_* Address for reprints: Gary Deng, MD, PhD, Integrative Medicine Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, 1429 First Avenue, New York, NY 10021. (Email: dengg{at}mskcc.org).

Objective: We sought to determine whether an acupuncture technique specially developed for a surgical oncology population (intervention) reduces pain or analgesic use after thoracotomy compared with a sham acupuncture technique (control).

Methods: One hundred sixty-two patients with cancer undergoing thoracotomy were randomized to group A (preoperative implantation of small intradermal needles that were retained for 4 weeks) or group B (preoperative placement of sham needles at the same schedule). The numeric rating scale of pain and total opioid use was evaluated during the in-patient stay, and the Brief Pain Inventory and Medication Quantification Scale were evaluated after discharge up to 3 months after the operation.

Results: The principal analysis, a comparison of Brief Pain Inventory pain intensity scores at the 30-day follow-up, showed no significant difference between the intervention and control groups. Pain scores were marginally higher in the intervention group (0.05; 95% confidence interval, 0.74 to –0.64; P = .9). There were also no statistically significant differences between groups for secondary end points, including chronic pain assessments at 60 and 90 days, in-patient pain, and medication use in the hospital and after discharge.

Conclusion: A special acupuncture technique, as provided in this study, did not reduce pain or use of pain medication after thoracotomy more than a sham technique.

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