Efficacy of Acupuncture in Refractory Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The trial aims to examine the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of refractory irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The investigators will include 170 participants to receive acupuncture plus usual care or sham acupuncture plus usual care. Twelve sessions of acupuncture will be delivered to participants over a period of 4 weeks. The primary outcome is defined as proportion of participants with adequate relief of global IBS symptoms at week 8, which is defined as \>50% reduction in IBS-SSS scale.