Inspired by Garland et al 2019.[1] Selfie in the Ozone Bar on the 118th floor of the ICC tower looking over Hong Kong island. Thanks to Karen Chan for guiding us to the Ozone layer on this occasion, and to Gill and Dave Keefe for first taking me 4 years ago. This paper popped up … Continue reading CBT-I pips acupuncture in insomnia
Inspired by Dietzel et al 2019.[1] Image by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash. This paper was published very recently in the journal Neurocritical Care. I was more familiar with it than you might expect because, on request of the senior author, I had checked the English a couple of times for submissions to different journals … Continue reading SAH headache 2019
Inspired by Nicolian et al 2019 and Vas et al 2019.[1,2] Image by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash. Nicolian et al 2019 is the first paper to report a cost-effectiveness analysis of adding acupuncture to usual care of pelvic girdle and low back pain (PGLBP) in pregnancy. It was a pragmatic open randomised controlled trial with … Continue reading PGLBP or LBPGP during pregnancy
Inspired by Shew et al 2019.[1] Shew et al 2019.[1] This is the first reported case of a spinal epidural abscess as a possible complication of acupuncture treatment in New Zealand. It is the 15th such report I can find in the literature (on PubMed), but this report and most others cannot make irrefutable causal … Continue reading Spinal epidural abscesses
Inspired by Witt et al Clin J Pain 2019.[1] Photo by MC, taken at Kew Gardens Temperate House. This paper is clearly important to consider, despite the limited conclusion of the abstract, since it comes from the ATC (Acupuncture Trialists Collaboration) and involves further analysis of the largest dataset available in the field of acupuncture … Continue reading Do patient characteristics affect acupuncture treatment outcomes?
Inspired by Molassiotis et al Integr Cancer Ther 2019.[1] Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral NeuropathyCIPN Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash. This is the first fully powered RCT of acupuncture in CIPN This is the first fully powered RCT of acupuncture in CIPN (chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy). Alex Molassiotis is an academic from a nursing background who worked at … Continue reading CIPN 2019
Inspired by Wang et al Chest 2018.[1] Photo by David Yanutama on Unsplash. I am a bit slow to comment on this paper that was published nearly a year ago. This morning a colleague from Madrid asked my opinion on an earnest letter dismissing the research.[2] I had a quick look over both and thought the original … Continue reading Acupuncture non-inferior to NRT
Inspired by Lund et al BMJ Open 2019.[1] Photo by Ryan Moreno on Unsplash- representing waking up soaking wet as some of my patients describe... This paper hit the ground running, so to speak. I guess it must have been press released by BMJ, because it ended up on the BBC News website late on Saturday 9th March … Continue reading Hot flushes 2019
Inspired by Llamas Fuentes et al Med Clin (Barc) 2019.[1] Image from an old version of Adam Interactive anatomy. We have another case report of a serious adverse event following acupuncture. This time cardiac damage from needling in the area of the sternum. But my title refers more to my disappointment at the entire lack … Continue reading Heartbreak
Inspired by Shih C-C et al QJM 2019.[1] Immortal Bridge, Mount Tai, ChinaPhoto by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PfctdayeliseSky edit by MC – sky from sunset over South Island New Zealand This paper struck me as interesting because of its size, its overlap with previous topics on the blog (VCIND, CHD in RA), but most of all because it … Continue reading Immortal time bias
