NCT03821428

Acupuncture for Relief of Gag Reflex

Acupuncture for Relief of Gag Reflex in Patients Undergoing Transesophageal Echocardiography - a Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Medicine Greifswald · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 30 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The aim of the study is to test whether stimulation of acupuncture points CV24 and P6 is better than placebo acupuncture in treatment of gagging in patients undergoing elective transesophageal echocardiography (TEE)

Detailed description

Patients undergoing elective transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) often report discomfort because of active gagging reflex, which sometimes preclude the performance of TEE and requires additional medication. According to existing literature, needling of acupoint CV24 effectively prevents gagging during dental procedures. We are going to use this phenomenon in patients scheduled to TEE in order to reduce discomfort during insertion of TEE probe and reduce the need for additional sedative medication. Within this investigation the patients will be randomly assigned to receive either verum acupuncture of CV24 and P6 acupoints or placebo procedure immediately before TEE examination. As outcome the incidence and intensity of gagging, total dose of additional sedative medication and hemodynamic parameters will be recorded.

Conditions

• Gagging During Transesophageal Echocardiography

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Acupuncture	Needling of P6 and CV24 points
PROCEDURE	Placebo	Application of placebo acupuncture needles to the areas, where the acupoints are situated

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-01-13
• Primary completion: 2021-05-20
• Completion: 2021-05-20
• First posted: 2019-01-29
• Last updated: 2021-01-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Germany