Journal of Pain Research (Jul 2025)

Efficacy of Different Acupuncture Therapies for Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A Network Meta-Analysis

  • Qin P,
  • Cao X,
  • Ni H,
  • Yang L,
  • Tong Y,
  • Dang M,
  • Xu J

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18, no. Issue 1
pp. 3653 – 3673

Abstract

Read online

Peipei Qin, Xun Cao, Hua Ni, Liu Yang, Yiman Tong, Mengbo Dang, Juan Xu Rehabilitation Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221006, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Juan Xu, Rehabilitation Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, 32 Meijian Road, Quanshan District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) presents substantial therapeutic challenges, as existing drug therapies demonstrate limited efficacy and often cause adverse effects. These limitations highlight the need to explore non-pharmacological alternatives.Purpose: This network meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the comparative efficacy of eight acupuncture therapies versus usual treatment (UT) for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS).Results: From 67 RCTs (5961 patients), all acupuncture modalities outperformed conventional drugs in clinical efficacy (P< 0.05), with long-needle acupuncture ranking highest (SUCRA 88.7%). Specific outcomes revealed: 1) symptom scores: thumb-tack needle (SUCRA 90.9%) and long-needle acupuncture (72.2%) showed the greatest NIH-CPSI reduction; 2) Pain: long-needle acupuncture (76.3%) and acupoint catgut embedding (69.3%) ranked top; 3) Urination: long-needle acupuncture (82.9%) and conventional acupuncture (47.9%) surpassed UT; 4) Quality of life: thumb-tack needle (72.3%), electroacupuncture (65.6%) and long-needle acupuncture (64.1%) were optimal. Long-needle acupuncture consistently demonstrated superior efficacy across both subjective symptoms and objective measures.Conclusion: Acupuncture therapies, especially long-needle acupuncture, are more effective than UT for CP/CPPS, providing comprehensive symptom relief, pain reduction, and functional improvement, with long-needle acupuncture emerging as the most robust intervention.Keywords: acupuncture, chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain, network meta-analysis

Keywords