Abstract
Objective : This study was designed to evaluate the effect of bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy in patients with FBSS(failed back surgery syndrome). Methods : We investigated 30 cases of patients with FBSS, who had been treated from October 2010 to July 2011. We divided patients into two groups : group I was treated by acupuncture therapy only, and group II was treated by bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy and general acupuncture. We measured the efficacy of treatments using the numerical rating scale(NRS) and grade and straight leg raising(SLR) test. Results : 1. The treatment method for group II was more effective than that of group I in reducing the NRS score on the fifteenth day after admission but there was no statistically significant difference between the results of two groups on the fifth day after admission and the tenth day after admission. 2. The treatment method for group II was more effective than that of group I in NRS improvement rate from its admission day to the fifth day after admission and from the tenth day after admission to the fifteenth day after admission but there was no statistically significant difference between the performance of two groups from the fifth day after admission to the tenth day after admission. 3. Group II had a higher grade improvement rate from the seventh day after admission to the fifteenth day after admission than group I but no statistically significant difference was observed between the results of two groups from its admission day to the seventh day after admission. 4. In SLR test improvement rate the treatments applied to group II was more effective than those applied to group I. Conclusion : The results of this study suggest that bee venom pharmacopuncture therapy is effective in reducing pain for patients with FBSS. Further clinical research is needed to verify these results and findings.