Acupuncture for Post-hemorrhoidectomy Pain Control

Acupuncture for Post-hemorrhoidectomy Pain Control With Acute Anti-inflammatory Effects: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if acupuncture improves pain control after hemorrhoidectomy in patients with symptomatic hemorrhoids. It will also learn about the safety of using acupuncture in surgical patients. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does acupuncture lower the maximal pain intensity after hemorrhoidectomy? Does acupuncture reduce analgesics requirement, length of hospital stay and quality of recovery?

Researchers will compare fully active acupuncture to a sham treatment (a look-alike procedure with minimum acupuncture stimulation) to see if active acupuncture works to improve pain control.

Participants will:

Receive acupuncture treatment for 7 times over first 5 days after surgery. Visit the clinic once 2 weeks after surgery for checkups and tests. Keep a diary of their symptoms and the number of times they take pain-killers.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Acupuncture; Hemorrhoidectomy; Hemorrhoid Pain
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Acupuncture; Procedure: Acupuncture

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Pak Chiu Wong; Phone Number: +852-70836168; Email: pwongpc@connect.hku.hk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Symptomatic grade III or IV hemorrhoids undergoing conventional hemorrhoidectomy

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients scheduled for stapled hemorrhoidopexy
2. Concomitant surgery other than conventional hemorrhoidectomy
3. Bleeding tendency, thrombocytopenia (platelet count < 100 x 10^9/L)
4. Immunocompromised status or use of chemotherapy
5. Active dermatitis
6. Patients with pacemaker or automated implantable cardioverter-defibrillator
7. Pregnant patients
8. Known allergy to opioids, local anaesthetic drugs, paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) including cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors
9. History of chronic pain (duration for 3 months or more)
10. Daily use of strong opioids (e.g. morphine, fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone, oxycodone, or meperidine)
11. Alcohol or drug abuse
12. Psychiatric illness
13. Impaired renal function (preoperative serum creatinine level > 120µmol/L)
14. Recent acupuncture treatment for other medical conditions

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Fully active acupuncture	Procedure: Acupuncture; Acupuncture to 6 specific acupoints, 3 distant acupoints and electrical stimulation to 4 pairs of local acupoints.; Other Names: Fully active acupuncture; Procedure: Acupuncture; Minimal electrical stimulation to 1 local acupoint and 2 distant acupoints; Other Names: Minimum acupuncture stimulation
Sham Comparator: Minimum acupuncture stimulation	Procedure: Acupuncture; Acupuncture to 6 specific acupoints, 3 distant acupoints and electrical stimulation to 4 pairs of local acupoints.; Other Names: Fully active acupuncture; Procedure: Acupuncture; Minimal electrical stimulation to 1 local acupoint and 2 distant acupoints; Other Names: Minimum acupuncture stimulation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Maximal pain intensity	Numeric rating scale (minimum at 0 means 'no pain', maximum at 10 means 'worst pain')	Post-operative day 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Maximal and resting pain intensity	Numeric rating scale (minimum at 0 means 'no pain', maximum at 10 mean 'worst pain')	Post-operative day 0, 2 to 7 and 14
Dosage of analgesics requirement	Dosage of paracetamol, tramadol and celecoxib tablets taken per day over the first post-operative 2 weeks	Post-operative 2 weeks
Length of hospital stay		Post-operative day 1
Adverse effect	Effect from analgesics and acupuncture	Post-operative 2 weeks
Quality of recovery (QoR)	QoR-15 questionnaire, which includes 15 questions scoring at a 10-point scale. Minimum at 0 means worst outcome and maximum at 10 means best outcome.	Post-operative day 1
Serum C-reactive protein level		Post-operative day 0 and 1
Functional recovery questionnaire		Post-operative 1 week (time to first bowel motion, time to first urination and time to return to work, counted from the day of operation)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
• Collaborators: School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 24, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 15, 2025
• First Posted (Estimated): November 20, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 2, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 24, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Therapeutics; Complementary Therapies; Acupuncture Therapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: UW 25-302

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No