THREE WAYS IN ACUPUNCTURE RESEARCH

Jean G.M. BOSSY
Facult de M decine de Montpellier-N mes, Avenue Kennedy, 30900 N mes, France.

Scientific research in acupuncture may be approached through three headings: (1) Animal experimentation for demonstrating the mechanisms to substain its various effects; (2) Clinical validation for showing its interest and value in the daily medical practice; (3) Social validation for studying its impact on the public health at the national or worldwide scale. Each of these headings calls upon specific methodologies.
1. Animal experimentation aims to display objective and measurable data. The methodology is the same as for any other fields of biology or medicine. The animal experimentation is certainly the most documented and validated part of the scientific acupuncture research by now.
2. The purpose of the clinical validation is to demonstrate the medical interest of any medical act, for a better care of the illness and the patient. Clinical validation is stressed now, because it is the way to determine the place of acupuncture in modern medicine. This validation lies on clinical trials realized with strict methodology, free from any criticism, characterized by the randomization and a reliable comparison with a control group. This part of the acupuncture research is in progress in many countries.
3. Social evaluation belongs to the field of public health. It must lead to choice of the therapeutics according, to the available resources and to the environment. The methodology is that of any public health investigation. Very few scientific and reliable studies have been earned out at this time. The statistical analysis must try to demonstrate that the proposed treatment has an effect equal, different or better than the reference one. Beyond this aspect of the research, the social validation must appreciate the treatment in the present context, its cost, etc. It is important to point out that evaluation of the actual cost must include not only the medical act, or the price of the prescription but also the duration of the disease, the outwork period, the cost of the introgenic effects, the formation of practitioners, etc. This study would also take into account preventive effects. Only from such an evaluation, public health choice will be made for each specific country or region.
Conclusion: There is neither great medical nor poor one. The progresses in medicine are always coming from the everyday addition of small discoveries.