Objective: To evaluate the analgesic and therapeutic effects of electro-superficial-acupuncture(ESA) of Sanyinjiao(SP 6) for treating primary dysmenorrhea(PD).Methods: A total of 171 patients were randomly divided into ESA(n=57)

superficial acupuncture(SA)(n=57) and medication(n=57) groups.For patients in SA group

bilateral SP6 were punctured superficially with special single-use needles

and for those in ESA group

after puncturing

electric stimulation(60 Hz

2-3 V) was applied to SP6 for 30 min.Patients of medication group were ordered to take Brufen sustained-release capsules(0.3 mg

b.i.d.

for 3 days)

then

take it again from the 3rd day on before the onset of menstruation to the 2nd day after the onset.The cumulative score of clinical symptoms were evaluated before and after the treatment.Results: Comparison among 3 groups showed that the difference values of score(pre-treatment-post-treatment) of both ESA and SA groups were significantly bigger than that of medication group(P<0.001).After the treatment from 1 min to 30 min

patients with complete relief of dysmenorrhea of ESA group were significantly more than those of SA group during the 1st menstrual cycle(P<0.05).Results of intention-to-treat(ITT) analysis showed that of the three 57 cases in ESA

SA and medication groups

the cured cases were 40

38 and 10

the markedly effective were 9

10 and 27

the effective were 5

4 and 7

and the failed were 3

5 and 13

with the total effective rates being 94.74%

91.23% and 77.19% respectively.The effective rates of ESA and SA groups were significantly higher than that of medication group(P<0.01)

and the results of per-protocol analysis(PP) were similar to those of ITT analysis.Conclusion: The analgesic effect of both ESA and SA at SP6 for PD patients is significantly better than that of oral administration of Brufen.