Effects of Electroacupuncture on Benign Prostate Hyperplasia Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms : A Single-Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract EN

We tested the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients.

A total of 42 BPH patients with LUTS were randomly assigned to either the EA group (EG), received 2 Hz EA for 20 min twice/week for a total of twelve treatments, or a sham EA group (CG), received sham EA.

The increase of voiding volume, average flow rate, and maximal flow rate in the EG were 32.2±104.4 mL, 1.2±1.6 mL/sec, and 2.3±3.7 mL/sec, respectively, from baseline value (before EA) using the measurement of an uroflowmetry.

These increases were greater than −37.9±120.4, −0.22±2.7, and −0.3±4.3, respectively, in the CG (P=.038, .026, and .030, resp.).

The changes of prostate special antigen and international prostatic symptom score were not significantly different between two groups (P=.573, .175, resp.), suggesting the clinical improvement of 2 Hz EA was quite limited to the LUTS of patients with BPH.