Acupuncture decreases somatosensory evoked potential amplitudes to noxious stimuli in anesthetized volunteers.

Unlabelled: The effect of acupuncture on pain perception is controversial. Because late amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to noxious stimuli are thought to correlate with the subjective experience of pain intensity, we designed this study to detect changes of these SEPs before and after acupuncture in a double-blinded fashion. Sixteen volunteers were anesthetized by propofol and exposed to painful electric stimuli to the right forefinger.

Thyroid hormone response to moderate hypothermia in severe brain injury.

Objective: To examine the effect of controlled moderate hypothermia on thyroid response in head-injured patients.

Design: Prospective, controlled, randomized study.

Setting: University hospital intensive care unit (ICU).