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Assessment of the safety and efficacy of acupuncture in erectile dysfunction treatment

针刺治疗勃起功能障碍安全性及疗效的评价

  • Systematic Review
  • Published:
Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To assess the safety and efficacy of acupuncture in erectile dysfunction treatment.

Methods

A systematic literature search was conducted to identify relevant studies. Seven electronic databases including Popline, World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Library (GHL), System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe (SIGLE), Scopus, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, PubMed and Virtual Health Library (VHL) were utilized to carry out the search. A manual search was further conducted for relevant publications from references of the included articles, relevant papers in PubMed and Google Scholar, and primary studies that had cited the included papers. Hand-search using each keyword to avoid missing any relevant publications was also carried out.

Results

The literature search yielded 2 818 reports after removing duplicates using Endnote software. There were 21 studies eligible for full-text screening and five of which were subsequently included. After two studies identified from the manual search were added, a total of seven studies were found suitable to carry out the systematic review and meta-analysis. Five of them were used for quantitative and qualitative analysis, while two were only used for qualitative analysis. There were four clinical trials, one pilot study, one case report, and one animal study.

Conclusion

Acupuncture can improve male erectile function.

【摘要】

目的: 评价针刺治疗勃起功能障碍的安全性及疗效。 方法: 采用文献检索法对相关研究进行系统检索。利用Popline、世界卫生组织(WHO)全球卫生图书馆(GHL)、欧洲灰色文献信息系统(SIGLE)、Scopus、美国科学信息研究所(ISI) Web of Science、PubMed和VHL 7个电子数据库进行检索。通过从收录文章的参考文献、PubMed和谷歌学术的相关论文以及引用收录论文的初步研究中搜索相关刊物, 并进行进一步人工搜索。此外, 对每个关键词都进行手动检索以避免遗漏相关文献。 结果: 用Endnote软件剔除重复文献后, 共得到2 818篇文献。有21项研究符合全文筛选的条件, 其中5项随后被纳入。加上从手动检索中确定的2项研究后, 共有7项研究适合进行系统性回顾和meta分析。其中5项用于定量和定性分析, 2项仅用于定性分析。共有4项临床试验、1项初步研究、1份病例报告和1项动物研究。结论: 针刺治疗能够改善男性勃起功能。

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my appreciation to Prof. Dr. Charles Savona-Ventura for his keen interest in the progress o f this work. He has been very generous in providing me with knowledge and scientific materials. Sincere thanks to Dr. Samer Saad Ali Adwal for his support throughout the y ear. Special thanks to all the Chinese doctors involved in the course for the supervision and help at all stages of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine, University of Malta, Msida, MSD 2080, Malta

    Munirah Mansour Alamro

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Correspondence to Munirah Mansour Alamro.

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Author: Munirah Mansour Alamro, M.M.

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Alamro, M.M. Assessment of the safety and efficacy of acupuncture in erectile dysfunction treatment. J. Acupunct. Tuina. Sci. 19, 167–173 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11726-021-1250-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11726-021-1250-z

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