A systematic review by a joint American and Chinese team, suggests acupuncture could benefit arrhythmias. The most common example is atrial fibrillation but others were covered in this review. They studied 13 trials, involving nearly 800 patients, and found that:
1) for paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, there was no statistically significant difference between acupuncture and conventional treatment ie acupuncture was just as effective;
2) for ventricular premature beat, there was a significant benefit when acupuncture was added to oral administration of anti-arrhythmic drugs compared with the administration of drugs alone;
3) for sinus tachycardia without any other treatment, acupuncture was of benefit.
Some studies were of poor design, so the evidence in favour of acupuncture was not strong, but the authors recommend more rigorous trials so that a proper evaluation of acupuncture can be made.
(Comparative Effectiveness of Acupuncture and Antiarrhythmic Drugs for the Prevention of Cardiac Arrhythmias: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Frontiers in Physiology, 8 June 2017.)
