Acupuncture and pre-operative anxiety in neurosurgery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of acupuncture on pre-operative anxiety levels in neurosurgical patients: a randomised, controlled trial
IRAS ID
185948
Contact name
Matthew Wiles
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 24 days
Research summary
Anxiety before having an operation is very common and causes distress to patients and can also cause those that suffer it to have more pain or sickness after surgery. Traditionally this has been treated with sedative drugs (known as a “premed“) that are similar to drugs like Valium or diazepem. However these drugs can cause a sedative “hangover” with prolonged sleepiness after the operation is over. Patients who are having surgery on their brain or spine, need to be fully awake after their surgery so the functions of their nerves and brain can be assessed; for this reason “premeds“ are rarely used.
Acupuncture has been shown to reduce preoperative anxiety, but none of the studies have been done on UK patients having brain or spine surgery. We aim to investigate the effect of acupuncture on anxiety before surgery on the brain or spine.
Anxiety levels will be measured by two simple questionnaires whilst patients are waiting for surgery. We will put the patients into one of two groups at random. One group will have nothing done and we will repeat the anxiety questionnaires 30 minutes later to see if anxiety levels have naturally changed over time. The other group will have acupuncture for 30 minutes before repeating the anxiety questionnaires. The acupuncture involves a putting a very fine needle (about the thickness of a human hair) just into the surface of the skin between the eyebrows and leaving it there for 30 minutes. This is usually virtually painless although some people experience a minor prickly sensation. All the procedures and questionnaires will be done before the operation, although we will measure the pain levels and if patients are sick immediately after surgery and again on the next day.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
15/NS/0098
Date of REC Opinion
10 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion