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 4

Acupuncture therapy versus postoperative care for time to first flatus.


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.	-28.56 [-32.45, -24.67]	11

Open surgery, FTP, CRC (30)	Manual acup.	-31.20 [-58.91, -3.49]	13

Open radical surgery², CRC (60)	Manual acup.	-6.49 [-11.88, -1.10]	14.1 (T1)

Pooled result (174) 3 RCTs	Manual acup.	-20.51 [-39.19, -1.84] 95.3%	11, 13, 14

Radical surgery², CRC (32)	Electro-acup.	-28.13 [-34.65, -21.61]	8

Radical surgery, CRC (40)	Electro-acup.	-37.90 [-42.34, -33.46]	9

Radical surgery, CRC (60)	Electro-acup.	-2.93 [-5.51, -0.35]	17

Open radical surgery², CRC (60)	Electro-acup.	-9.95 [-14.89, -5.01]	14.2 (T2)

Intraperitoneal surgery, colon cancer (75)	Electro-acup.	3.02 [-6.44, 12.48]	6

Laparoscopic surgery, CRC, (110)	Electro-acup.	-14.40 [-23.41, -5.39]	7

Pooled result (377) 6 RCTs	Electro-acup.	-15.17 [-28.81, -1.54] 97.6%	6-9, 14, 17

Radical surgery, colon cancer, elderly patients (60)	Manual plus electro-acup.	-8.00 [-17.12, 1.12]	15

Radical surgery², CRC (80)	Acupressure	-11.05 [-13.44, -8.66]	20

Radical surgery, CRC (70)	Warm needling	-18.55 [-23.86, -13.24]	19

Pooled result (731) 11 RCTs	Manual, electro-, acupressure, warm needling	-15.68 [-23.03, -8.33] 96.1%	6-9, 11, 13-15, 17, 19, 20

Radical surgery, CRC (76)	Manual acup. plus ear acupressure ³	-18.70 [-21.01, -16.39]	10

Usual surgery, CRC (80)	Acupressure plus ear acupressure	-9.67 [-13.58, -5.76]	22

Dixon surgery, rectal cancer (80)	Moxa plus ear acupressure	-22.90 [-30.10, -15.70]	3

Pooled result (236) 3 RCTs	Manual acup./ moxa plus ear acupressure	-16.72 [-23.79, -9.65] 89%	3,10, 22

Pooled result (967) 14 RCTs	All acup., acupressure, moxa on trad. points	-15.93 [-21.44, -10.41] 95.5%	3, 6-11, 13-15, 17, 19, 20, 22

Radical surgery², CRC (78)	Ear acupressure	-19.85 [20.35, -19.35]	5

Usual surgery, colon cancer (60)	Ear acupressure	-6.73 [-11.16, -2.30]	12

Open radical surgery, rectal cancer (160)	Ear acupressure	-2.09 [-3.26, -0.92]	4

Pooled result (298) 3 RCTs	Ear acupressure	-9.59 [-23.58, 4.39] 99.7%	4, 5, 12

Total pool (1265) 17 RCTs	All acupuncture therapies	-14.77 [-19.75, -9.79] 98.4%	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.