Fink Matthias, Rosted Palle, Bernateck Michael, Stiesch-Scholz Meike, Karst Matthias
Weston Park Hospital, Sheffield University, UK.
Forsch Komplementmed. 2006 Apr;13(2):109-15. doi: 10.1159/000091527. Epub 2006 Apr 19.
The aim of the present study was to analyze the results of randomized clinical trials on the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of painful dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint.
A literature search of 3 electronic databases was performed, and only randomized studies comparing acupuncture-treated patients with either untreated or conservatively treated control groups were included. For this purpose, results were compared in narrative and tabular form.
To date, only 8 publications representing 6 randomized clinical trials have looked into the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of craniomandibular dysfunction. With the exception of one, all studies were published in Sweden, between 1985 and 1992. A more recent US study was the only one to apply sham acupuncture to test the efficacy of acupuncture. All studies share methodological shortcomings, including a lack of detailed descriptions of the randomization procedures, point selection, possible dropouts and undesirable events as well as attempts to identify a possible placebo effect of the acupuncture. Only 1 study investigated long-term results. Although based on the improvement of subjective and objective criteria, all studies consider acupuncture as an effective treatment for painful dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint, the good results achieved must be interpreted with caution because of the methodological shortcomings identified.
Acupuncture appears to be a suitable complementary treatment method in the management of craniomandibular dysfunction. However, its significance has to be further evaluated in future studies.
本研究旨在分析关于针刺治疗颞下颌关节疼痛性功能障碍疗效的随机临床试验结果。
对3个电子数据库进行文献检索，仅纳入将针刺治疗患者与未治疗或保守治疗对照组进行比较的随机研究。为此，以叙述和表格形式比较结果。
迄今为止，仅有8篇代表6项随机临床试验的文献探讨了针刺治疗颅下颌功能障碍的疗效。除1项研究外，所有研究均于1985年至1992年在瑞典发表。最近的一项美国研究是唯一一项应用假针刺来测试针刺疗效的研究。所有研究均存在方法学缺陷，包括缺乏对随机化程序、穴位选择、可能的失访和不良事件的详细描述，以及未尝试确定针刺可能的安慰剂效应。仅有1项研究调查了长期结果。尽管所有研究均基于主观和客观标准的改善，认为针刺是治疗颞下颌关节疼痛性功能障碍的有效方法，但鉴于已确定的方法学缺陷，所取得的良好结果必须谨慎解读。
针刺似乎是管理颅下颌功能障碍的一种合适的辅助治疗方法。然而，其意义有待未来研究进一步评估。
