Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background:
Studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can assist in the completion rate of abortion, also reducing bleeding time, abdominal pain, and return of menses.
Objectives:
To assess the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) with different stimulation parameters on assisting medicine-induced abortion, and to determine the best combination of stimulation parameters of EA to optimize the clinical therapeutic effects of medicine-induced abortion.
Design, Setting, and Patients:
A controlled trial of 109 pregnant women (<2 months' gestation) who requested medicine-induced abortion at the outpatient clinic of the gynecology department of Dong Zhi Men Hospital in Beijing, China, from March through July 2004. Women were allocated to 2 different EA treatment groups or a medicine-only control group.
Intervention:
Thirty to 60 minutes after oral administration of misoprostol, EA was applied to both treatment groups. In treatment group A, LI 4 and SP 6 were piquered bilaterally and stimulated with 100 Hz cluster waves at the highest intensity each woman could tolerate. In treatment group B, initially, LI 4 was piquered for 20 minutes, then SP 6 was piquered 5 minutes later and stimulated with 50-Hz continuous waves at the highest intensity each woman could tolerate. EA was not applied in the control group.
Main Outcome Measures:
Abortion rate, time to eliminate the embryonic sac, degree of abdominal pain, and colporrhagia duration were recorded.
Results:
Completed abortion rates in the treatment groups were higher than that in the control group, but the difference was not significant (range, 82%–92%). Significant differences were reported in abdominal pain between treatment group B and the control group (P < .01), and the EA protocol of treatment group B also relieved pain significantly better than the treatment protocol for group A (P < .05). The duration of eliminating the embryonic sac in groups B and A were significantly shorter than in the control group (P < .01, P < .05, respectively). Colporrhagia duration in the 2 treatment groups was significantly shorter than in the control group (P < .01). No serious adverse events were reported.
Conclusions:
Different EA stimulation parameters have different effects on abortion. The stimulation parameters of EA applied in treatment group B (EA with 50-Hz continuous waves, first at LI 4 for 20 minutes, then 5 minutes later, adding SP 6) were more effective in relieving the abdominal pain, shortening the time to eliminate the embryonic sac, and colporrhagia duration in women undergoing medicine-induced abortion.