Acupuncture for Prevention of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

March 1, 2026 updated by: Jaime Ortiz, Baylor College of Medicine

Acupuncture For Prevention Of Postoperative Nausea And Vomiting In Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy - A Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose is to find out if intraoperative acupuncture performed by needling PC 6 and LI4 point bilaterally, and Yin Tang point will help reduce the incidence postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy when added to a prophylactic regimen consisting of ondansetron and dexamethasone. The hypothesis is that the addition of this acupuncture treatment to ondansetron and dexamethasone given for prophylaxis will help reduce the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy when compared to patients receiving ondansetron and dexamethasone without acupuncture.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

270

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Ben Taub Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patient ages 18-64
  2. American Society of Anesthesiology Physical Status I, II or III
  3. Patients scheduled to undergo laparoscopic cholecystectomy at Harris Health System Ben Taub Hospital

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Scheduled open cholecystectomy - excluded due to increased levels of pain in open procedures
  2. Renal dysfunction (Serum Cr > 1.2) - excluded due to potential altered metabolism of anesthetic and perioperative medications
  3. Allergy to any of the standard anesthetic agents
  4. Patient inability to properly communicate with investigators (language barrier, dementia, delirium, psychiatric disorder)
  5. Patient or surgeon refusal

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Acupuncture
Group Acupuncture: Points PC 6 bilaterally, LI 4 bilaterally, and Yin Tang will be needled using Seirin L Type 0.25 X 40 mm needles. MH 6 is located 2 cun (a traditional Chinese unit of length) above the wrist crease in between the tendons of palmaris longus and flexor carpi radialis. LI 4 is in the middle of first and second metacarpal bones. Yin Tang is located between the eyebrows. All needles will be removed once skin closure begins, and before emergence and extubation.
Device: Acupuncture
Acupuncture at points points PC 6 bilaterally, LI 4 bilaterally, and Yin Tang
No Intervention: Control
No acupuncture treatment provided

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting
Time Frame: Postoperative: 0-1 hours, 1-6 hours, 6-12 hours, 12-24 hours
Incidence of nausea and vomiting after surgery
Postoperative: 0-1 hours, 1-6 hours, 6-12 hours, 12-24 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Postoperative pain
Time Frame: 24 hours
Pain on scale 1-10 measured on arrival to PACU, discharge from PACU and at 24 hours post surgery
24 hours
Total opioids used
Time Frame: 24 hours
Total opioid given, converted to oral morphine equivalents
24 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Baylor College of Medicine

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 9, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 16, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

February 10, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 26, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 2, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 3, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 1, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H-53767

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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