OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture on thalamic pain after stroke. METHODS: The self-established database was searched from 8 Chinese and English databases to June 2022, and the randomized controlled trials articles on the comparative treatment of thalamic pain after stroke with acupuncture were included. That visual analog scale, present pain intensity score, pain rating index, the total efficiency, and adverse reactions were mainly used to evaluate the outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 11 papers were included. Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture appeared to be more effective than drugs for treatment of thalamic pain, as assessed by the visual analog scale (mean difference (MD) -1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) (-1.20 to -0.91), p < 0.00001), the present pain intensity score (MD -0.27, 95% CI (-0.43 to -0.11), p = 0.001), the pain rating index (MD -1.02, 95% CI (-1.41 to -0.63), p < 0.00001), and the total efficiency (risk ratio 1.31, 95% CI (1.22 to 1.41), p < 0.00001). Meta-analysis results show that there is no significant difference in safety between acupuncture and drug therapy (risk ratio 0.50, 95% CI (0.30 to 0.84), p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Studies have shown that acupuncture in the treatment of thalamic pain is effective, and it does not prove to have a higher safety than drug treatment, therefore a large-scale multicenter randomized controlled trials study is needed to further prove.

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