Acupuncture is now accepted as a complementary analgesic treatment. Auricular acupuncture is a distinct form of acupuncture. Electrical stimulation of acupoints (electroacupuncture) increases the effects of acupuncture. Recently, an auricular electroacupuncture device, the P-Stim, has become available. Clinical studies in outpatients have investigated the P-Stim in chronic musculoskeletal pain ...

Auricular acupuncture has been utilized in the treatment of diseases for thousands of years. Dr. Paul Nogier firstly originated the concept of an inverted fetus map on the external ear. In the present study, the relationship between the auricular acupuncture and the vagal regulation has been reviewed. It has been shown that auricular acupuncture plays a role in vagal activity of autonomic funct...

Background: Obesity and infertility have been linked together by several studies. Obesity results in an increased production of estrogen; this hormonal imbalance in turn interferes with ovulation, which of course, is the basis of successful conception. Auricular acupuncture is one of the acupuncture therapies used to prevent and treat obesity. Materials and Methods: In this research we used aur...

PURPOSE To investigate the length variation of the posterior auricular artery and propose a novel classification of the posterior auricular artery based on angiographical appearance. PATIENTS AND METHODS A series of 234 consecutive patients who had undergone conventional cerebral angiography was analyzed. The posterior auricular artery was examined on the lateral projection of the external ca...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Auricular masses are growths on the outer ear that have not been well characterized clinically. We assessed the clinical nature and treatment of auricular benign masses in patients at our institution. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We retrospectively identified 63 patients with auricular benign masses who underwent excision and biopsy from May 1970 to April 2011. We determined...

Abnormal foci in the auricles, from which the cardiac impulse may arise, beget various types of arrhythmia. Three main groups may be distinguished, namely, ectopic beats, auricular tachycardia (of slower or faster rate), and auricular fibrillation. Although the deranged auricular function is fundamentally similar in each variety, there are reasons for regarding the groups as separate nosologica...

Auricular petrification is an infrequent finding in which the ears become completely or partially rigid. The most frequent cause is the calcification of the auricular cartilage and, infrequently, auricular ossification. Ossification may be due to hypothermia, physical factors, inflammatory processes and different endocrinopathies. Severe hypothermia is the most frequent cause. We present a case...

Retro-auricular cellulitis associated with otitis externa is now the great mimicker of mastoiditis. It may be the most common cause of this specific cellulitis/auricular protrusion when it is associated with otitis externa. This column presents six cases of children who presented with peri-auricular redness, four of whom had protuberant ear and retro-auricular cellulitis.