1 The Fertility Clinic, Skive Sygehus, DK 7800 Skive, Denmark and 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Physiology and Institute of Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg University, Box 455, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: elsv{at}fhs.gu.se
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Abstract |
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Key words: analgesia/electro-acupuncture/IVF/ovum pick-up/pain relief
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Introduction |
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Acupuncture, a method of treatment that dates back at least 3000 years, has proved its pain-relieving effect both intra-operatively and post-operatively (Kho et al., 1991; Wang et al., 1997
; Fanti et al., 2003
). Acupuncture with needle penetration of the skin and underlying muscles, followed by stimulation of the needles by manual rotation or by electrical stimulationso called electro-acupuncture (EA)excites afferent nerve fibres. When the needle is located and stimulated in the same segment as the pain, information from the excited fibres is known to inhibit pain transmission at the spinal level, and to activate the central endogenous opioid system including the descending pain inhibitory systems. At the same time, psychological responses are generated (Lundeberg and Stener-Victorin, 2002
). The advantage of acupuncture is its very few negative side effects.
In two recent studies, the analgesic effect of EA in combination with a PCB was compared with alfentanil (a fast-acting opiate) in combination with a PCB during OPU. In these trials, no pre-medication was used in either group and EA was applied 30 min before OPU. EA and a PCB was reported to be as effective as alfentanil and a PCB, without any reported negative side effects (Stener-Victorin et al., 1999, 2003). There were no differences between the groups regarding mean and maximal pain experienced during OPU. Two hours after OPU, women who received EA as analgesia during OPU reported significantly less abdominal pain, nausea and stress compared to women who received alfentanil as analgesia (Stener-Victorin et al., 2003
). In addition, the EA group received significantly less additional opiates (Stener-Victorin et al., 2003
). Another interesting observation in the first trial (Stener-Victorin et al., 1999
) was a significantly higher pregnancy rate in women who received EA as analgesia. In the second trial, however, when a larger number of patients were included, EA did not improve the pregnancy rate when used as an analgesic method during OPU (Stener-Victorin et al., 2003
). As mentioned, EA stimulation was applied at least 30 min before OPU in both trials. This was due to the results of a previous study on acupuncture and pain relief in which 30 min was considered to be the optimal time needed for a thorough onset of analgesia and relaxation prior to operation (Bonica, 1974
). When EA is applied 30 min prior to OPU, the patient has to move to the operating theatre with the acupuncture needles in situ, which is inconvenient and might dislocate needles. In order to make EA more attractive for clinical use, it would be of interest to investigate whether EA, when applied a few minutes before OPU and terminated directly after OPU, induces sufficient pain relief and analgesia during OPU. The primary end-point of the study was pain relief. Secondary end-points were costs, time to discharge and clinical outcome parameters. An EA treatment protocol commonly used for gynaecological pain relief in Denmark was employed.
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Materials and methods |
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EA. In the EA group, the acupuncture needles (HUANQIU, AcupunctureShop, Varde, Denmark; size 0.30 x 30 mm) were inserted 1525 mm intramusculary into the acupuncture points (Table I) a few minutes before the OPU. The selected acupuncture points are commonly used for gynaecological pain relief in Denmark. The needles in the abdominal muscles and in the hands were connected to an electrical stimulator (Agistim Duo®) and stimulated with a frequency of 20 Hz at a continuous pulse duration of 0.5 ms. The stimulation intensity was as high as possible, just under pain threshold. The stimulation intensity of the needles was adjusted continuously during the procedure. Well-trained nurses administered the acupuncture. The PCB was given 12 min after the EA procedure started. At the end of the procedure, the acupuncture needles were removed.
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CMA. In the CMA group, patients were pre-medicated with benzodiazepine 10 mg p.o. (Stesolid; Dumex-Alpharma A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark) 1 h before the OPU. Immediately before the application of the PCB, 0.25 mg of alfentanil was given i.v. The alfentanil bolus was repeated 13 times during the OPU up to a maximum of 1 mg.
Outcome variables
Pain assessment. A visual analogue scale (VAS) (McCormack et al., 1988) is a rating scale consisting of a 10 cm line oriented vertically on a paper. VAS was used to evaluate the anxiety and the abdominal pain level before OPU as well as the mean and maximum pain level during OPU and pain now level. The measurements were performed
30 min before OPU and directly after. Thereafter, abdominal pain was evaluated at 30 min intervals until the patient left the clinic. After discharge, patients continued abdominal pain rating approximately every 6 h for the following 24 h. VAS rating of the patients mean pain during the OPU was also performed by the nurse. The questionnaire had the following end-points: anxiety, i.e. no anxiety and unbearable anxiety; expected pain, abdominal pain, mean and maximum pain, and nurse pain ratings, i.e. no pain and unbearable pain.
Recorded medication, time consumption and IVF parameters. The dosage of benzodiazepine and alfentanil was recorded, and costs for acupuncture needles, benzodiazepine, alfentanil and NaCl were calculated in Euros. The time interval from the end of the OPU until discharge was recorded and referred to as time to discharge. Clinical parameters including number of previous IVF cycles, number of oocytes retrieved, number of embryos transferred per embryo transfer (ET), number of positive pregnancy tests per ET, number of gestational sacs and numbers of clinical pregnancies were recorded.
An HCG-positive pregnancy test was defined by a plasma -HCG concentration of >10 IU/l, 12 days after ET. The pregnancy rate was defined as an intrauterine gestational sac with a heartbeat 3 weeks after a positive HCG test. The implantation rate was calculated as the ratio of gestational sacs determined by ultrasound after 7 weeks in relation to the total number of embryos transferred.
Statistics
Power analysis was based on the study by Stener-Victorin et al. (1999). Given that the maximum pain during OPU rated on a VAS was 48.6 ± 23.1 (mean ± SD), it was calculated that 100 patients per group would provide 90% chance at a 5% significance level to detect a 30% change in pain. The MannWhitney U-test was used to compare differences between the groups concerning the VAS ratings.
2 test was used to compare differences among groups concerning implantation rate, pregnancy rate per ET and clinical pregnancy rate. Students t-test for independent samples was used to compare differences between the groups concerning time in clinic and cost in Euros/OPU. P < 0.05 was considered significant.
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Results |
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Discussion |
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In two previous studies by Stener-Victorin et al. (1999, 2003), focusing on pain relief, EA given 30 min before OPU in combination with a PCB was shown to induce as good an analgesic effect as alfentanil in combination with a PCB during OPU. Pre-medication was not used for any group in these studies. In the present study, EA patients scored significantly higher regarding mean pain, maximum pain and pain now compared with the CMA group, but the mean and maximum pain ratings of the EA group in the present study, most interestingly, are comparable to the levels of the EA groups of the two previous studies evaluating the pain-relieving effect of EA (Stener-Victorin et al., 1999
, 2003), showing that the difference in pain ratings most probably relies on the pre-medication of the CMA group.
Other main differences in the study design between the present study and the studies by (Stener-Victorin et al., 1999, 2003) are: (i) the acupuncture needles were applied a few minutes prior to the OPU in the EA group; (ii) different acupuncture points (Table I) were used; and (iii) a frequency of 20 Hz was used for electrical stimulation.
EA aims to activate the endogenous pain-controlling systems, but it is unclear exactly how long a time this activation takes. From a theoretical point of view, 30 min has been proposed to be the optimal time needed for a thorough onset of analgesia and relaxation prior to operation (Bonica, 1974), but this time may indeed be shorter.
The present study was performed in a Danish IVF clinic. When planning the study, we decided to use acupuncture points and EA frequencies most commonly used for gynaecological pain relief in Denmark, being aware that they differed from the Swedish protocol (Stener-Victorin et al., 1999, 2003). As we are still in the first phase of using acupuncture in established western modern medicine, the exact impact and significance of different acupuncture points and frequencies currently is unknown, and we are therefore still collecting data to determine the combinations.
Electrical stimulation of the acupuncture needles, i.e. EA, was given in all studies evaluating the analgesic effect during OPU, but with different frequencies. In a recent review, it was assumed that the endogenous pain-controlling systems are activated optimally when stimulated with a high frequency (80100 Hz) or when stimulated with a combination of a low frequency (24 Hz) and a high frequency (80100 Hz) (Han, 2003). The time to obtain the pain-relieving effect and activation of the endogenous pain-controlling system using a frequency of 20 Hz, as in the present study, has not been evaluated previously. A study comparing the different EA treatment protocols used in Sweden and Denmark, respectively, without pre-medication, is planned to clarify this point further.
The present design with the application of EA in the operating theatre without pre-treatment makes it very attractive for clinical use. Obviously this procedure is smoother for the patient with a natural continuity, when the same nurse performs the acupuncture and assists at the OPU. The time to discharge was significantly shorter for the EA group and the costs for acupuncture needles and pharmacological agents were significantly lower in the EA group compared to the CMA group.
No differences in any clinical outcome parameters between the two study groups were found. No negative side effects were reported, which is in line with previous studies under similar conditions (Wang et al., 1997; Stener-Victorin et al., 1999
, 2003; Fanti et al., 2003
).
In conclusion, a significant difference in per-operative pain rating was found in favour of CMA when using the new short duration EA set-up, most probably due to the fact that the CMA group was pre-medicated whereas the EA group were not pre-medicated as part of the study design. Despite this difference in per-operative pain rating, the procedure is well tolerated and in demand by patients. Moreover, the hospitalization time is shorter and costs are lower. At present, 50% of all OPUs at our clinic are performed using the new short duration EA protocol as an analgesic method.
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Acknowledgements |
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References |
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Submitted on January 15, 2004; accepted on February 2, 2004.