Objective To compare the difference of therapeutic effect for needling mainly at Saliao （素髎 GV 25） and oral administration of anodyne on the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. Methods Sixty patients were randomly divided into an acupuncture group and a medication group, each group with 30 patients. Sulliao （素髎 GV 25） was taken as main point in acupuncture group, anodyne was applied orally in medication group. Results The total effective rate in acupuncture group was 100.0% （30/30）, which was equivalent to 93.3% （28/30） in medication group （P〉0.05）. However in acupuncture group 25 patients with pain relieved within 20 min, while in medication group only 4 patients with pain relieved within 20min, therefore acupuncture group was superior to medication group （P〈0.05）. Conclusion There was no distinct difference between the therapeutic effect in acupuncture group and medication group except the initial time which showing effects in acupuncture group is much shorter than medication group.
