Researchers at the University of Oslo’s Department of Dentistry have concluded that acupuncture is an effective adjunctive treatment for post-operative nausea and vomiting in children after surgery to remove adenoids or tonsils.
In a randomised controlled trial, 154 children were selected to receive either acupuncture during anaesthesia plus acupressure wristbands for the following 24 hours alongside standard drug treatment, or they received standard drug treatment alone. The acupuncture group experienced significantly less retching and vomiting (46.8%) compared with the control group (66.2%).
(Perioperative Acupuncture and Postoperative Acupressure can prevent Postoperative Vomiting following Paediatric Tonsillectomy or Adenoidectomy: A Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial. Acupuncture in Medicine, Dec 2010. Epub ahead of print.)