title: Acupuncture for the treatment of opiate addiction.
abstract: Acupuncture is an accepted treatment worldwide for various clinical conditions, and the effects of acupuncture on opiate addiction have been investigated in many clinical trials. The present review systematically analyzed data from randomized clinical trials published in Chinese and English since 1970. We found that the majority agreed on the efficacy of acupuncture as a strategy for the treatment of opiate addiction. However, some of the methods in several included trials have been criticized for their poor quality. This review summarizes the quality of the study design, the types of acupuncture applied, the commonly selected acupoints or sites of the body, the effectiveness of the treatment, and the possible mechanism underlying the effectiveness of acupuncture in these trials.
authors.affiliation: School of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, No. 91 Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jaung-Geng
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yuan-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Yi-Hung
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chen