Am J Chin Med. 2003 ; 31(3): 475-80.

Clinical observations on postoperative vomiting treated by auricular acupuncture.

Kim Y, Kim CW, Kim KS.

Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, College of Oriental Medicine, KyungHee University, #1 Hoegi-dong Dongdaemoon-gu, Seoul 130-702, South Korea. ackys@hosanna.net

We studied the effect of auricular acupuncture on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). One hundred female patients undergoing transabdominal hysterectomy were entered into the study. The patients were divided into two groups (auricular acupuncture treatment group and non-treatment group) in order to test the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture. There was no significant difference in age, weight, height or duration of anesthesia among the two groups of patients. There was a significant difference between the control and auricular acupuncture treatment groups in the incidence of vomiting 12 hours after surgery (68% and 30%, respectively, p < 0.01). No noteworthy side effects from treatment were observed. Auricular acupuncture is effective in reducing vomiting following transabdominal hysterectomy in female patients.