ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2021
Acupuncture for Quality of Life of Patients with Defecation Dysfunction after Sphincter Preserving Surgery for Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- A comparative study of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation gymnastics on postoperative anal function of lower rectal cancer.World journal of clinical cases · 2024Trial
- Progress of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2025Review
- Effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions in patients with colorectal cancer: an overview of systematic reviews.Journal of rehabilitation medicine · 2025Review
- Evaluating the clinical application and effect of acupuncture therapy in anal function rehabilitation after low-tension rectal cancer surgery.World journal of clinical cases · 2024Article
- The Effects of Complementary Therapies on Patient-Reported Outcomes: An Overview of Recent Systematic Reviews in Oncology.Cancers · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for quality of life of patients with defecation dysfunction (DD) after sphincter preserving surgery for rectal cancer.
methodsWe searched nine online databases from inception to July 1, 2021, and did not restrict the type of language. Then, studies were independently selected by two research team members with screening criteria and risk bias assessment, and the data were extracted. The primary outcome was Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 29 (QLQ-CR29). The data were then synthesized using the RevMan V.5.2 by random-effects model. Also, we used the standardized mean differences with 95% credible interval (CI) to describe the outcome of the analysis.
resultsA total of 6 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (with 439 patients) were included in the systematic review, and data from 2 RCTs (with 200 patients) were used in the meta-analysis. Five studies (83%) were judged to have a medium risk of bias, and one was at high risk of bias. For synthesis, data from two medium-risk studies found that acupuncture or electropuncture may improve the QLQ-CR29 with urination (mean difference, -0.39 points; 95%CI, -0.46 to -0.32;
conclusionFindings in this study indicate that acupuncture or electropuncture may be effective and safe for DD, but the quality of included studies was very low. So, more large-scale, multicenter, long-term, and high-quality original research is still expected in the future.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.