Health TrialsbyHealthPanel

Acupuncture for Post-hemorrhoidectomy Pain Control

ConditionsHemorrhoidectomyHemorrhoid PainAcupuncture
Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-90
SponsorThe University of Hong Kong

About this trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if acupuncture improves pain control after hemorrhoidectomy in patients with symptomatic hemorrhoids. It will also learn about the safety of using acupuncture in surgical patients. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does acupuncture lower the maximal pain intensity after hemorrhoidectomy? Does acupuncture reduce analgesics requirement, length of hospital stay and quality of recovery?

Researchers will compare fully active acupuncture to a sham treatment (a look-alike procedure with minimum acupuncture stimulation) to see if active acupuncture works to improve pain control.

Participants will:

Receive acupuncture treatment for 7 times over first 5 days after surgery. Visit the clinic once 2 weeks after surgery for checkups and tests. Keep a diary of their symptoms and the number of times they take pain-killers.

Eligibility criteria

This trial does not accept healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Symptomatic grade III or IV hemorrhoids undergoing conventional hemorrhoidectomy

Disqualifiers

Patients scheduled for stapled hemorrhoidopexy

Concomitant surgery other than conventional hemorrhoidectomy

Bleeding tendency, thrombocytopenia (platelet count < 100 x 10^9/L)

Immunocompromised status or use of chemotherapy

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Acupuncture

    Procedure/Surgery

    Acupuncture to 6 specific acupoints, 3 distant acupoints and electrical stimulation to 4 pairs of local acupoints.

  • Acupuncture

    Procedure/Surgery

    Minimal electrical stimulation to 1 local acupoint and 2 distant acupoints

Treatment groups

100 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups
Group A: Fully active acupunctureExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Minimum acupuncture stimulationSham comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Maximal pain intensity

Numeric rating scale (minimum at 0 means 'no pain', maximum at 10 means 'worst pain')

Time frame
Post-operative day 1

Secondary outcomes

1

Maximal and resting pain intensity

Numeric rating scale (minimum at 0 means 'no pain', maximum at 10 mean 'worst pain')

Time frame
Post-operative day 0, 2 to 7 and 14
2

Dosage of analgesics requirement

Dosage of paracetamol, tramadol and celecoxib tablets taken per day over the first post-operative 2 weeks

Time frame
Post-operative 2 weeks
3

Length of hospital stay

Time frame
Post-operative day 1
4

Functional recovery questionnaire

Time frame
Post-operative 1 week (time to first bowel motion, time to first urination and time to return to work, counted from the day of operation)

Other outcomes

Locations

This trial has no locations.

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

The University of Hong Kong

Lead sponsor

School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

Collaborator

Source ClinicalTrials.gov

This trial is not recruiting at the moment. You can still explore other options: