Moxibustion and other acupuncture point stimulation methods to treat breech presentation: a systematic review of clinical trials

BACKGROUND Moxibustion, acupuncture and other acupoint stimulations are commonly used for the correction of breech presentation. This systematic review aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of moxibustion and other acupoint stimulations to treat breech presentation. METHODS We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled clinical trials (CCTs) on moxibustion, acupuncture or any other acupoint stimulating methods for breech presentation in pregnant women. All searches in PubMed, the Cochrane Library (2008 Issue 2), China National Knowledge Information (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP) and WanFang Database ended in July 2008. Two authors extracted and analyzed the data independently. RESULTS Ten RCTs involving 2090 participants and seven CCTs involving 1409 participants were included in the present study. Meta-analysis showed significant differences between moxibustion and no treatment (RR 1.35, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.51; 3 RCTs). Comparison between moxibustion and knee-chest position did not show significant differences (RR 1.30, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.79; 3 RCTs). Moxibustion plus other therapeutic methods showed significant beneficial effects (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.54; 2 RCTs). Laser stimulation was more effective than assuming the knee-chest position plus pelvis rotating. Moxibustion was more effective than no treatment (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.42; 2 CCTs) but was not more effective than the knee-chest position treatment (RR 1.22, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.34; 2 CCTs). Laser stimulation at Zhiyin (BL67) was more effective than the knee-chest position treatment (RR 1.30, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.54; 2 CCTs,). CONCLUSION Moxibustion, acupuncture and laser acupoint stimulation tend to be effective in the correction of breech presentation.