Presentation summary

Introduction : Surgical trauma often causes significant postoperative pain, delaying recovery and reducingquality of life. While opioids and other analgesics are effective, they carry risks of adverse effects. Acupuncturehas emerged as a fast, low-cost, and minimally invasive alternative.

Objective : To review the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for managing postoperative pain.

Methods : We performed a systematic search in Medline and Lilacs using the terms “Acupuncture Therapy”AND “Postoperative Pain,” yielding 687 records. After removing duplicates and conducting a blind selection inRayyan by two independent reviewers, nine systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria. Conflicts wereresolved by consensus. Data extraction followed a predefined protocol, culminating in an integrative review.

Results : All included reviews found that acupuncture administered during the postoperative period significantlyreduced pain compared with no acupuncture. One review reported a standardized mean difference (SMD) inpain scores of –0.94 (95% CI –1.35 to –0.53) and an SMD for reduced analgesic use of –1.87 (95% CI –2.98to –0.75). Another review noted decreased opioid consumption, especially on the first postoperative day.Benefits peaked within the first 10 hours after surgery (mean difference –0.71; 95% CI –1.13 to –0.28; P =0.001).

Conclusion : Current evidence indicates that acupuncture can effectively lessen postoperative pain and reducereliance on analgesic medications, including opioids, particularly in the immediate postoperative period.Further high-quality trials are needed to validate these findings and guide clinical application.

Keywords : Acupuncture Therapy; Postoperative Pain.