title: Acupuncture in preterm babies during minor painful procedures.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate analgesic effects of acupuncture in preterm neonates during minor painful procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten preterm neonates requiring heel prick for blood gas analysis were enrolled in the study, which had a crossover design. Oxygen saturation, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate, and crying duration were recorded before and after heel prick. Babies were given expressed breast milk before each procedure. Patients were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture or not, and the groups were crossed over on the following day, so that patients who had received acupuncture received only breast milk, and the previous breast milk only group received both acupuncture and breast milk. The neonatal infant pain scale (NIPS) was used for pain evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Crying duration and NIPS pain scores during heel prick were lower in the neonates who had received acupuncture.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acupuncture is an effective method for the treatment of pain in neonates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ayse
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ecevit
authors.forename: Deniz Anuk
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Ince
authors.forename: Aylin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tarcan
authors.forename: Mehmet Tugrul
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Cabioglu
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurt
mesh_terms: D015667:Acupuncture Analgesia; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement