Acupuncture may improve gallbladder emptying in patients with gallstones

A shorter treatment course with acupoint catgut embedding (ACE) therapy appears to more effectively improve gallbladder emptying, suggests a recent study. Thus, ACE as an adjunct to tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) therapy may serve as a time-saving treatment for gallstones.

Seventy patients with gallstones admitted to a hospital between August 2018 and January 2019 were enrolled in this prospective clinical trial. All patients were randomized either into the ACE group (ACE+TUDCA treatment for 8 weeks) or the sham group (sham ACE+TUDCA treatment for 8 weeks).

Participants in the ACE group were given ACE nightly every 2 weeks. In both groups, each patient took TUDCA 500 mg at bedtime. The authors detected parameters for gallbladder emptying by ultrasound before and after treatment, and they recorded the clinical symptom scores at the same time points.

Sixty-three patients with gallstone disease were included in the final analysis, of whom 33 were in the ACE group and 30 in the sham group. In the ACE group, empty volume (EV) and gallbladder ejection fraction (GBEF) improved following treatment (p<0.05). Almost all symptom scores (except symptom 7; p=0.15) and total score decreased (p<0.05). In the sham group, symptom 1, 2, 4, and 5 scores and total score significantly decreased (p<0.05).

In addition, the residual volume in the ACE group was significantly lower than in the sham group (p=0.008), while EV and GBEF were higher in the former (p<0.05). Finally, the symptom 6 score was lower in the ACE vs the sham group (p=0.008).