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Background: Postoperative ileus remains a significant medical problem after colorectal surgery that adversely influences patients’ recovery and prolongs hospital stay. Acupuncture is widely accepted as an effective treatment option for postoperative nausea and vomiting, but its role in treating postoperative ileus is unclear. We report interim analysis of a randomized sham-controlled study that aimed to investigate the efficacy of electroacupuncture in reducing the duration of postoperative ileus and hospital stay after laparoscopic colorectal surgery.Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing elective laparoscopic resection of colonic and upper rectal cancer without the need of stoma creation or conversion were randomly allocated to one of the three groups receiving either electroacupuncture (EA), sham acupuncture (SA), or no acupuncture (control). The acupoints Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, Hegu, and Zhigou were used. Patients randomized to the EA and SA groups underwent one session of acupuncture daily (15 minutes each) from postoperative day 1 till day 4. The primary outcome was time to defecation. Secondary outcomes included time to resume diet and hospital stay.Results: Between October 2008 and October 2009, 108 patients (35 EA, 38 SA, 35 control) were recruited. The demographic data were similar between groups. Comparing with the control group, the EA group had significantly shorter time to defecation (94.7 hours vs. 118 hours, P = 0.042), time to resume normal diet (4.1 days vs. 5.1 days, P = 0.018), and duration of hospital stay (7.3 days vs. 9.1 days, P = 0.041). The time to defecation of the EA group was also shorter than that of the SA group (94.7 hours vs. 108.6 hours), but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.210). The time to resume normal diet and the duration of hospital stay did not differ significantly between the EA and SA groups. No adverse event related to acupuncture was noted.Conclusion: This interim analysis suggests that EA is more effective than no acupuncture in reducing the duration of postoperative ileus and hospital stay after laparoscopic colorectal surgery, whereas there are no significant differences between EA and SA. A larger trial size is required.This study is supported by the Health and Health Services Research Fund, Food and Health Bureau, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR (Reference Number 06070371).