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Completed Not applicable Interventional

Acupuncture for Tonsillectomy Pain

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01389349

Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01389349. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.

ClinicalTrials.gov public records Last synced Sep 8, 2026, 6:51 AM EDT

Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.

Brief summary

Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.

Pain after tonsillectomy can be severe and last ten days. Various new surgical instruments have been developed over the years in an attempt to reduce postoperative pain with mixed results and increased costs; no single tonsillectomy technique is superior to the rest. Patients are discharged to home usually on the day of surgery and often suffer significant pain and nausea. Pain medication is often prescribed which can cause nausea, vomiting and constipation. Children in pain are reluctant to take in fluids and may require intravenous hydration at an emergency department. "Battlefield acupuncture " has been recently developed by the US Air Force and is now being used in Iraq and Afghanistan on wounded warriors suffering severe acute pain from trauma. This protocol consists of five acupuncture points on the outer ear. A recent study has demonstrated decreased pain and agitation in children undergoing ear tube insertion. Ear tube patients have mild discomfort compared to tonsillectomy patients and are able to attend school the next day. The investigators have been encouraged by the benefits of acupuncture during surgery for ear tube patients and also wounded warriors recovering from their injuries. These findings motivated us to see if acupuncture during tonsillectomy surgery would result in less pain and nausea.

Study identification

NCT ID
NCT01389349
Recruitment status
Completed
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Not applicable
Enrollment
130 participants

Conditions and interventions

Eligibility (public fields only)

Age range
2 Years to 17 Years
Sex
All
Healthy volunteers
Healthy volunteers not accepted

This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.

Study timeline

Start date
Jun 30, 2011
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2012
Completion
Apr 30, 2012
Last update posted
May 17, 2012

2011 – 2012

United States locations

U.S. sites
2
U.S. states
1
U.S. cities
2
Facility City State ZIP Site status
Children's Specialty Clinic El Centro California 92243
Rady Children's Hospital San Diego San Diego California 92123

Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.

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About this trial record page

What this page shows
Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01389349, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
What this page does not do
No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
Where the data comes from
Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
Last refresh
Last update posted May 17, 2012 · Synced Sep 8, 2026

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Open the official record

The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT01389349 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.

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