Ann Ital Chir. 1997 Jul-Aug; 68(4): 505-9.

The treatment of cranio-facial pain by electroacupuncture and laser irradiation.

Costantini D, Delogu G, Lo Bosco L, Tomasello C, Sarra M.

Istituto di Anestesiologia e Rianimazione UniversitÃ degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza.

Craniofacial neuralgias represent an interesting medical challenge, especially regarding the complex therapeutical aspects. Our study was performed treating more than 700 patients, applying steel inox needles variable in diameters and length for about 20 minutes, with a total application number ranging between 10 and 20. Results have been defined referring to a 4-grades response scale: excellent, good, fairly good and insufficient. It is important to emphasise that the best results have been achieved with patients who chose the acupuncture as the first therapeutic approach, while patients who underwent other previous medical and/or surgical treatment have had a worse response. The authors assert that acupuncture and infrared laser reflex therapy represent a harmless and effective treatment of such a diffuse and invalidating disease.