Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Review Article

Acupuncture and Related Therapies for Treatment of Postoperative Ileus in Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 3

Acupuncture therapy versus postoperative care for time to first bowel sounds.


Treatment type, cancer, participants (number)	Acupuncture therapy	Effect Size MD [95 CI]	Study ID No.†
Treatment type, cancer, participants (number)	Acupuncture therapy	hours, I²	Study ID No.†

Open surgery, FTP, rectal cancer (84)	Manual acup.	-7.40 [-7.97, -6.83]	11

Open surgery, FTP,¹ CRC (30)	Manual acup.	0.00 [-4.04, 4.04]	13

Open radical surgery,² CRC (60)	Manual acup.	-5.68 [-8.47, -2.89]	14.1 (T1)

Pooled result (174) 3 RCTs	Manual acup.	-4.83 [-8.47, -1.20] 85.5%	11, 13, 14

Radical surgery, CRC (40)	Electro-acup.	-18.00 [-22.11, -13.89]	9

Radical surgery, CRC (60)	Electro-acup.	-3.31 [-6.40, -0.22]	17

Open radical surgery,² CRC (60)	Electro-acup.	-8.36 [-11.24, -5.49]	14.2 (T2)

Pooled result (160) 3 RCTs	Electro-acup.	-9.77 [-17.35, -2.20] 93.6%	9, 14, 17

Radical surgery,² CRC (80)	Acupressure	-10.23 [-12.18, -8.28]	20

Radical surgery, CRC (70)	Warm needling	-12.20 [-16.66, -7.74]	19

Pooled result (454) 7 RCTs	Manual, electro-, acupressure, warm needling	-8.06 [-10.65, -5.47] 88%	9, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20

Radical surgery, CRC (76)	Manual acup. plus ear acupressure ³	-9.00 [-11.18, -6.82]	10

Usual surgery, CRC (80)	Acupressure plus ear acupressure	-8.63 [-11.87, -5.39]	22

Dixon surgery, rectal cancer (80)	Moxa plus ear acupressure	-14.77 [-20.59, -8.95]	3

Pooled result (236) 3 RCTs	Manual acup./ moxa plus ear acupressure	-9.79 [-12.42, -7.17] 44.7%	3, 10, 22

Pooled result (690) 10 RCTs	All acup., acupressure, moxa on trad. points	-8.61 [-10.60, -6.61] 84.8%	3, 9-11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 22

Radical surgery,² CRC (78)	Ear acupressure	-8.51 [-9.94, -7.08]	5

Usual surgery, colon cancer (60)	Ear acupressure	-4.83 [-8.25, -1.41]	12

Open radical surgery, rectal cancer (160)	Ear acupressure	-2.09 [-3.61, -0.57]	4

Pooled result (298) 3 RCTs	Ear acupressure	-5.16 [-9.81, -0.51] 94.5%	4, 5, 12

Total pool (988) 13 RCTs	All acupuncture therapies	-7.78 [-9.55, -6.01] 89.0%	All above

means statistically significant; † see Table 1; 1: acupuncture began 24 hours after surgery; 2: excluding Miles surgery; 3: using sensitive ear points.
CI, Confidence Interval; MD, mean difference; moxa, moxibustion; trad., traditional.