Efficacy of cupping therapy in patients with the fibromyalgia syndrome – a randomized sham-controlled controlled trial

Purpose: Acupuncture has been traditionally applied to functional dyspepsia (FD). The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of acupuncture treatment on FD using proportion of responder (PR), questionnaires and plasma ghrelin hormone. Methods: Total 76 eligible patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups: acupuncture treatment group and waitlist control group. A treatment period was 4 weeks and acupuncture was administered twice weekly, 15 minutes for each session. The outcomes were the (i) PR, (ii) Nepean dyspepsia index – Korean version (NDI–K), (iii) Functional dyspepsia related quality of life (FD–QOL), (iv) Beck’s depression inventory (BDI), (v) State– trait anxiety inventory (STAI) and (vi) Plasma level of ghrelin hormone. Results: Acupuncture treatment group showed significantly higher PR than waitlist control group after 4 weeks of therapeutic period. The treatment group also had a significant improvement in NDI–K compared with waitlist control group. FD– QOL, BDI and STAI showed significant improvement after treatment in only acupuncture group. The plasma level of ghrelin showed no significant difference between 2 groups. Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment might have effect on FD in comparison with waitlist control group. However, it is still unclear to the association of ghrelin level with clinical effect of acupuncture. Contact: Seok-Jae Ko, kokokoko119@hanmail.net