Montgomery Anna Denee, Ottenbacher Ronovan
Whole Health Department, Fargo VA Health Care System, Fargo, ND.
This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Fargo VA Health Care System. The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
Med Acupunct. 2020 Feb 1;32(1):38-44. doi: 10.1089/acu.2019.1382. Epub 2020 Feb 3.
Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) is a unique auricular acupuncture procedure utilized by many Veterans Affairs Healthcare Administration facilities. Several previous studies have shown an immediate reduction in pain for up to 2 weeks post BFA. The long-term effects of BFA and its potential to decrease opioid use had yet to be analyzed. This study was conducted o analyze the effectiveness of BFA to decrease chronic pain immediately and 6 months after treatment and to decrease the number of opioids needed for management of chronic pain. This was a retrospective cohort study comparing veterans who received BFA and were prescribed opioids for their chronic pain to veterans who did not receive BFA. The treatment group included 24 veterans who received BFA and had opioid contracts. The comparison group consisted of 23 randomly selected veterans who had opioid contracts but did not receive BFA. A numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to measure pain before and after treatment, as well as 3 months prior and 6 months post. The average morphine mg equivalents for opioids 3 months prior and 6 months post treatment were also compared. Differences between groups were statistically analyzed by an analysis of variance and a Student's -test. Significant average decreases of 1.3 points on the NRS occurred in 66.1% immediately after the procedure. No significant decreases in pain were found. No significant changes of the average number of opioids over the 9 months analyzed were found. BFA is effective for immediate pain reduction. Further research with a randomized controlled trial in a larger population is needed to assess BFA effects on chronic pain and opioid dependency.
战地针刺疗法（BFA）是许多退伍军人事务医疗管理机构所采用的一种独特的耳针疗法。此前的多项研究表明，在接受BFA治疗后长达2周内疼痛会立即减轻。BFA的长期效果及其减少阿片类药物使用的潜力尚未得到分析。本研究旨在分析BFA在治疗后即刻及6个月时减轻慢性疼痛的有效性，以及减少慢性疼痛管理所需阿片类药物数量的有效性。这是一项回顾性队列研究，将接受BFA治疗并因慢性疼痛而开具阿片类药物处方的退伍军人与未接受BFA治疗的退伍军人进行比较。治疗组包括24名接受BFA治疗并签订了阿片类药物使用协议的退伍军人。对照组由23名随机选择的签订了阿片类药物使用协议但未接受BFA治疗的退伍军人组成。使用数字评分量表（NRS）来测量治疗前后以及治疗前3个月和治疗后6个月的疼痛程度。还比较了治疗前3个月和治疗后6个月阿片类药物的平均吗啡毫克当量。通过方差分析和学生t检验对组间差异进行统计学分析。术后即刻，66.1%的患者NRS平均显著降低了1.3分。未发现疼痛有显著减轻。在分析的9个月内，未发现阿片类药物平均使用数量有显著变化。BFA在即刻减轻疼痛方面是有效的。需要在更大规模人群中进行随机对照试验的进一步研究，以评估BFA对慢性疼痛和阿片类药物依赖的影响。
