Eletroacupuntura no tratamento do zumbido

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies have suggested the use of acupuncture associated with electrical stimuli to treat tinnitus. The aim of this dissertation was to elucidate the effects of electroacupuncture treatment on tinnitus through a Critically Analyzed Topic and a Randomized Clinical Trial. METHOD: The dissertation was divided into two articles: Article 1 (Critically Analyzed Topic) and Article 2 (Randomized Clinical Trial), the literature search was carried out in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, SciELO, Scopus and Web of Science databases and the descriptors used in English were electroacupuncture OR electrical acupuncture AND tinnitus. Articles with level of evidence 2 or higher published between 2010 and 2021 were chosen, and of the 33 studies found, 5 were included. In Article 2, a randomized, controlled, prospective, blind clinical trial was conducted at the University Hospital Lauro Wanderley of the Federal University of Paraíba, where individuals with chronic tinnitus (for more than 6 months) were randomized into two groups: one group treated with electroacupuncture (verum) and a simulated group (sham). Each participant received 10 sessions, 2 sessions per week, 30 minutes each, 25 minutes with electrostimulation. All were evaluated before starting (pre-intervention), at the end of treatment (1st post-intervention), and one month after completion (2nd post-intervention), using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and the Scale Visual Analog. RESULT: Literature research indicates that electroacupuncture seems to have advantages in tinnitus compared to control groups or other techniques, but it also shows a scarcity in the current literature on the subject, methodological flaws, wide heterogeneity in the proposed protocols and in the results found. In the clinical trial, 41 participants between 24 and 74 years (25 men and 16 women) completed the study carried out between October 2020 and June 2021. In the 1st and 2nd post-intervention evaluation, the verum group, compared to the sham group, showed statistically significant improvement through Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Scale Visual Analog for tinnitus intensity. CONCLUSION: The Critically Analyzed Topic indicated that electroacupuncture seems to have benefits in tinnitus, although the analyzes are not always significant. The clinical trial, on the other hand, showed a statistically significant improvement in tinnitus in individuals undergoing electroacupuncture, reducing the level of tinnitus intensity.