ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2022
Acupuncture Methods for Primary Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy and safety of different acupuncture-related therapies for primary trigeminal neuralgia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Research trends of acupuncture therapy for painful peripheral nervous system diseases from 2004 to 2023: a bibliometric and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture and carbamazepine for patients with trigeminal neuralgia: a randomized, controlled, 2 × 2 factorial trial.Journal of neurology · 2024Trial
- Updated Evidence of Acupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with GRADE Assessment.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Development of an Expert Consensus on Electroacupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia Using the Delphi Method: A Study Protocol.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- The application of acupuncture in the management of neuropathic orofacial pain: a narrative literature review.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2025Review
- Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor regulate the interaction between astrocytes and Schwann cells at the trigeminal root entry zone.Neural regeneration research · 2023Article
- How Do You TreatMedical acupuncture · 2022Article
- The Comparative Efficacy of Multiple Acupuncture for Alzheimer's Disease: A Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Acupuncture on Management of Post-Traumatic Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain: A 24-Month Follow-Up Case Report.Special care in dentistry : official publication of the American Association of Hospital Dentists, the Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped, and the American Society for Geriatric DentistryArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrimary trigeminal neuralgia (PTN) is a clinical refractory disorder characterized by excruciating pain that severely impacts the quality of life. Several studies have shown that acupuncture can improve PTN pain. However, the comparative efficacy and safety of acupuncture are unknown. Herein, a systematic review was conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of various acupuncture methods for PTN treatment.
methodsRelevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published up to 1 August 2021 were obtained from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science Core Collection, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, CQVIP Database, Wanfang Database, Allied and Alternative Medicine Database, and related registration platforms. Two authors independently selected the studies and obtained data. Cochrane Handbook was used to assess the methodological quality. We put the pain relief as the primary outcome and the response rate and adverse events as the secondary outcomes. Review Manager v5.3, ADDIS v1.16.8, and STATA v15.0 software were used for data analysis. The intraclass correlation coefficient was used to assess the consistency of the two investigators.
resultsA total of 58 RCTs with 4,126 participants were obtained. The meta-analysis indicated that five acupuncture methods were superior to conventional medicine (carbamazepine) in pain reduction intensity and response rate. Meanwhile, electronic acupuncture plus manual acupuncture was the most effective therapy since it reduced pain intensity in 11 methods and improved the response rate in 10 interventions. Moreover, six interventions had acceptable adverse events, and none of the included studies reported severe adverse events. However, most pieces of evidence were ranked as critically low.
conclusionThese findings show that acupuncture methods can be effective and safe for PTN. Moreover, electronic acupuncture plus manual acupuncture maybe the best acupuncture treatment for PTN and should be administered to PTN patients. However, additional well-designed and high-quality RCTs should be conducted to verify the above findings in the future. The systematic review is registered with CRD42020221456.
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.