title: Electroacupuncture for moderate and severe benign prostatic hyperplasia: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), postvoid residual urine (PVR), and maximum urinary flow rate (Qmax), and explore the difference between EA at acupoints and non-acupoints in patients with moderate to severe benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Men with BPH and IPSS ≥8 were enrolled. Participants were randomly allocated to receive EA at acupoint (treatment group, n = 50) and EA at non-acupoint (control group, n = 50). The primary outcome measure includes the change of IPSS at the 6th week and the secondary outcome measures include changes of PVR and Qmax at the 6th week and change of IPSS at the 18th week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  100/192 patients were included. At the 6th week, treatment group patients had a 4.51 (p<0.001) and 4.12 (p<0.001) points greater decline in IPSS than the control group in the intention to treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) populations. At the 18th week, a 3.2 points (p = 0.001) greater decline was found in IPSS for the treatment. No significant differences were found between the two groups in Qmax at the 6th week (p = 0.819). No significant difference was observed in PVR (P = 0.35).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Acupoint EA at BL 33 had better effects on IPSS, but no difference on PVR and Qmax as compared with non-acupoint EA. The results indicate that EA is effective in improving patient's quality of life and acupoint may have better therapeutic effects than non-acupoints in acupuncture treatments of BPH.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01218243.
authors.affiliation: Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Baoyan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jinna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jiani
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhishun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003710:Demography; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D057194:Intention to Treat Analysis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy* / Q000652:urine; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome