[Efficacy of modified auriculotherapy for post-operative pain control in patients subjected to laparoscopic cholecystectomy].

BACKGROUND: The high frequency of post-operative pain in the patients after laparoscopic cholecystectomy has led to the need to use multiple analgesic therapies. These include auriculotherapy, although not very good results have been obtained with the traditional techniques.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of modified auriculotherapy for post-operative pain control in laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Double-blind controlled clinical trial. Experimental group: Different points ear puncture with xylocaine without needles vs. placebo group. Post-operative visual analogue scale (VAS) at 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48h and rescue doses of analgesics, were measured in both groups.

RESULTS: At 6h post-operative, 87% of the auriculotherapy group had a VAS of<4 vs. 48% of placebo group (p = 0.004), and 96 vs. 74% (p = 0.008) at 18hours. At 24, 36 and 48h after surgery there were no differences, and as all of the patients in both groups had a VAS<4, they were discharged to the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS: Modified auriculotherapy was better to the conventional analgesics for post-operative pain control in patients subjected to laparoscopic cholecystectomy.