Volume 4 Issue 1 - Spring 2009

by David Mayor

In May 2007, Elsevier published a textbook on electroacupuncture (EA) on which I worked as editor and author for nearly eleven years. With the book comes a CD which includes not only a greatly expanded version of the text, but also a fully searchable database compiled from more than 8,000 clinical studies on electroacupuncture and associated modalities (TENS, laser acupuncture, etc). These were originally published between 1959 and 2003 in English, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian and other mainly Western European languages. Pertinent data were translated and entered by 23 different individuals, including acupuncture practitioners, researchers and students. The resulting innovative database is unique in that study entries include details of the acupoints and treatment parameters used, as well as information on study type, numbers and subgroups of subjects, endpoint measures used, and outcome. As far as possible, material was gathered without bias in respect of acupuncture philosophy, practice and language of publication.