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Acupuncture Mechanism in Relief of Gag Reflex

The Mechanism of Acupuncture for Relief of Pharyngeal (Gag) Reflex - an Experimental Crossover Investigation

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07664826
Acronym
AcuGagDiff
Enrollment
30
Registered
2026-06-24
Start date
2026-01-21
Completion date
2026-08-01
Last updated
2026-06-24

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Gag (Pharyngeal) Reflex

Brief summary

The gag reflex relief effect of acupuncture of CV24 acupoint will be compared to acupuncture of PC6 and K3 acupoints in healthy volunteers in crossover mode. Second step will be the investigation whether local anesthesia using EMLA creme will block the gag relief effect of CV24 acupuncture in healthy volunteers.

Interventions

OTHERAcupuncture

Needling of acupoints CV24, PC6 and K3

Sponsors

University Medicine Greifswald
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 40 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Healthy volunteers aged between 20-40 years old with an American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status of I to II naïve to acupuncture 2. Participants without previous opioid and psychotropic medication 3. Without use of recreational drugs 3 days prior to study sessions 4. Without systemic disease or local skin lesions at the sites of acupuncture 5. Without drug allergy to local anesthetics, especially EMLA preparation 6. Participants who have given written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

1. Local skin infection at the sites of acupuncture 2. Aged \< 20 or \> 35 years 3. History of drug allergy to local anesthetics 4. Participants who are unable to understand the consent form or to use numeric rating scale NRS-11 Discontinuation Criteria 1. Any adverse effects during study session 2. In case of local or systemic infection 3. In case if subject will withdraw from participation in this study at any time, for any reason, specified or non-specified, and without penalty or loss of benefits

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Length of saliva injector insertion (cm)Day 1 ( before and after acupuncture)Saliva injector is inserted intraoral slowly until the gagging (pharyngeal reflex) is elicited; the length of insertion of saliva injector will be measured in centimeters

Secondary

MeasureTime frame
Severity of gagging, measured using the Numeric Rating Scale NRS-11 (0=no gagging; 10=maximal)Day 1 ( before and after acupuncture)

Countries

Germany

Contacts

CONTACTTaras I Usichenko, Prof. Dr. med., MD, PhD
tarasik@me.com+49 (0) 3434864028

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 25, 2026