The Role of Traditional Acupuncture in Patients with Fecal Incontinence-Mini-Review

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 4; p. 2112
• Main Authors: Sipaviciute, Agne, Aukstikalnis, Tomas, Samalavicius, Narimantas E, Dulskas, Audrius
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22.02.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Acupuncture Therapy; Aged; Chinese medicine; Clinical trials; Diarrhea; Electroacupuncture; Fecal incontinence; Fecal Incontinence - therapy; Feces; Female; Herbal medicine; Humans; Intestine; Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Lasers; Motility; Moxibustion; Pelvis; Quality of Life; Review; Spinal cord; acupuncture; irritable bowel syndrome; electroacupuncture; faecal incontinence; bowel dysfunction; diarrhea; moxibustion
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18042112

Fecal incontinence affects up to 15% of the general population, with higher rates of incidence among women and the elderly. Acupuncture is an old practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine that might be used to treat fecal incontinence. The aim of this mini review was to assess the effect of acupuncture for fecal incontinence. Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, and CENTRAL electronic databases were searched until August 2020. The following keywords were used: acupuncture, electroacupuncture, moxibustion, fecal incontinence, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and bowel dysfunction. In addition, references were searched. Five studies (two randomized controlled trials), out of 52,249 predefined publications after an electronic database search, were included into the review. Overall, 143 patients were included. All studies report significant improvements in continence, although they all apply different acupuncture regimens. Randomized controlled trials show significant differences in experimental groups treated with acupuncture in improving continence. Significant improvement in quality of life scores was reported. In addition, improvement in fecal continence remained significantly improved after 18 months of follow-up. Acupuncture is a promising treatment alternative for fecal incontinence. Based on small, low-quality studies, it might be a safe, inexpensive, and efficient method. However, more high-quality studies are needed in order to apply this treatment technique routinely.