title: An alternative to current therapies of functional dyspepsia: self-administrated transcutaneous electroacupuncture improves dyspeptic symptoms.
abstract: Functional dyspepsia is of high prevalence with little treatment options. The aim of this study was to develop a new treatment method using self-management transcutaneous electroacupuncture (TEA) for functional dyspepsia (FD). Twenty-eight patients with FD were enrolled and underwent a crossover clinical trial with 2-week TEA at ST36 and PC6 and 2-week sham-TEA at nonacupuncture sham-points. Questionnaires were used to assess symptoms of dyspepsia and quality of life. Physiological testing included gastric emptying and electrogastrography. It was found that (1) TEA but not sham-TEA significantly improved dyspeptic symptoms and 4 domains in quality of life; improvement was also noted in self-rated anxiety and depression scores; (2) gastric emptying was significantly and substantially increased with 2-week TEA but not sham-TEA; and (3) gastric accommodation was also improved with TEA but not sham-TEA, reflected as increased ingested nutrient volumes at the levels of satiety and maximum tolerance. These findings suggest a therapeutic potential of self-administrated TEA method for functional dyspepsia, possibly attributed to improvement in gastric motility.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Xueliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Liuqin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Meifeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Xiaopin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, First Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Ranran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
authors.forename: Jiande Dz
authors.initials: JDz
authors.lastname: Chen