Efficacy of needleless transcutaneous electroacupuncture in synchronization with breathing for symptomatic idiopathic gastroparesis: A blinded and controlled acute treatment trial.

In sham or STEA, the nausea scores of 2.7 ± 0.5 and 1.9 ± 0.5 at fasting baseline, respectively, increased to 5.9 ± 0.4 and 5.8 ± 0.3 during Ensure test (P < .05, vs baseline), subsequently reduced to 3.4 ± 0.6 with sham or 3.6 ± 0.6 with STEA, respectively (P < .05, vs Ensure period). Experiments with sham and STEA started with similar % of normal waves on EGG (66.4 ± 3.9 and 61.8 ± 3.0, respectively); decreased to 63. 5 ± 4.1 and 58.2 ± 2.8 during the Ensure test. After STEA, there was ~24% increase in % of normal waves, significantly different from the sham (6.0%) (P < .01). In sham or STEA, vagal activity was identical at baseline and after the Ensure. STEA induced a 3-fold increase in vagal activity compared with sham (P < .01). Ensure increased serum PP levels, and both treatments decreased the PP CONCLUSIONS: In IGP, STEA is not superior to Sham in decreasing nausea, but is more effective in improving gastric dysrhythmia.