Acupuncture Versus Titrated Morphine in Patients With Renal Colic

Comparison of Acupuncture and Titrated (TM) Morphine in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Room (ER) With Acute Renal Colic (RC)

The aim of this study is to compare the clinical efficacy and safety profiles of a 30 minutes acupuncture session performed at an ER of a tertiary hospital versus titrated intravenous morphine in the management of acute severe pain syndromes (defined as a visual analogue scale (VAS) score >/= 70) taking for example acute renal colic.

acupuncture session performed at an ER of a tertiary hospital versus titrated intravenous morphine in the management of acute severe pain syndromes (defined as a visual analogue scale (VAS) score >/= 70) taking for example acute renal colic.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age > 18 years old
• Presenting with acute non complicated renal colic
• Baseline VAS score >/= 70

Exclusion Criteria:

• complicated renal colic
• VAS score < 70
• Pain of traumatic origin
• Coagulation abnormalities
• Skin affections impairing the use of pre-specified insertion points
• Enable to use the VAS
• Patients who received analgesics less than 6 hours prior to enrollment
• Patients refusing or enable to give written informed consent
• Pregnant women