Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26298839›Full record

Trial reportJournal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation2016

Is Acupuncture Efficacious for Treating Phonotraumatic Vocal Pathologies? A Randomized Control Trial.

Edwin M L Yiu, Karen M K Chan, Elaine Kwong, Nicole Y K Li, Estella P M Ma, Fred W Tse, Zhixiu Lin, Katherine Verdolini Abbott, Raymond Tsang

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Vocal Fold Polyps: Literature Review.International archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2019
    Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Edwin M L YiuDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: eyiu@hku.hk.
Karen M K ChanDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Elaine KwongDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Nicole Y K LiSchool of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Estella P M MaDivision of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Fred W TseFred TSE's CM Clinic, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, China.
Zhixiu LinSchool of Chinese Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
Katherine Verdolini AbbottCommunication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Raymond TsangDepartment of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
University of Hong Kong · HKChinese University of Hong Kong · HKMcGill University · CAQueen Mary Hospital · CNUniversity of Pittsburgh · US

Funding

Prospective randomized double-blind study of acupuncture for phonotraumaR21AT003879 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG · PI YIU, EDWIN MAN-LAI · 2007 to 2008
$290k
NCCIH NIH HHS R21 AT003879
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating phonotraumatic vocal fold lesions. STUDY DESIGN/

methodsA total of 123 dysphonic individuals with benign vocal pathologies were recruited. They were given either genuine acupuncture (n = 40), sham acupuncture (n = 44), or no treatment (n = 39) for 6 weeks (two 30-minute sessions/wk). The genuine acupuncture group received needles puncturing nine voice-related acupoints for 30 minutes, two times a week for 6 weeks, whereas the sham acupuncture group received blunted needles stimulating the skin surface of the nine acupoints for the same frequency and duration. The no-treatment group did not receive any intervention but attended just the assessment sessions. One-hundred seventeen subjects completed the study (genuine acupuncture = 40; sham acupuncture = 43; and no treatment = 34), but only 84 of them had a complete set of vocal functions and quality of life measures (genuine acupuncture = 29; sham acupuncture = 33; and no-treatment = 22) and 42 of them with a complete set of endoscopic data (genuine acupuncture = 16; sham acupuncture = 15; and no treatment = 11).

resultsSignificant improvement in vocal function, as indicated by the maximum fundamental frequency produced, and also perceived quality of life, were found in both the genuine and sham acupuncture groups, but not in the no-treatment group. Structural (morphological) improvements were, however, only noticed in the genuine acupuncture group, which demonstrated a significant reduction in the size of the vocal fold lesions.

conclusionsThe findings showed that acupuncture of voice-related acupoints could bring about improvement in vocal function and healing of vocal fold lesions.

Indexed as

Acupuncture TherapyVoice QualityAcousticsAdultDysphoniaFemaleHong KongHumansLaryngoscopyMaleMiddle AgedQuality of LifeRecovery of FunctionSpeech Production MeasurementStroboscopySurveys and QuestionnairesAlternative treatmentDysphoniaTherapy efficacy

Identifiers

PMID26298839
PMCPMC4548836
OpenAlexW1847074160

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.