In this study, the effectiveness of acupuncture as a complementary therapy in additional to conventional treatments was evaluated. Functional dyspepsia is a common gastrointestinal complaint in clinical practice. According to the Roma III criteria, it can be classified into two types as the predominant system: epigastric discomfort and postprandial discomfort. The pathophysiology is uncertain, but appears to be related to visceral hypersensitivity, changes in gastroduodenal motility and gastric accommodation and psychological factors. This was a randomized clinical trial where one group was submitted to drug therapy and specific acupuncture (GI) and the other to drug therapy and non-specific acupuncture (GII). The symptoms and quality of life were evaluated at the end of treatment and 3 months afterwards. The results showed that after 4 weeks of treatment there was improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms in Group I and Group II. Quality of life was significantly better in Group I. Anxiety and depression were significantly lower in Group I. 3 months after the treatment, gastrointestinal symptoms remained better only in Group I, when compared to the pre-treatment values. The authors conclude that in patients with functional dyspepsia, the complementary acupuncture treatment is superior to conventional treatment. Arq Gastroenterol. 2013. PMID: 24322192.
