Acupuncture For Postoperative Fatigue Following Cardiothoracic Surgery

Objective:Postoperative fatigue is a common complication of cardiothoracic surgery. This research was aim to study the correlation factors of postoperative fatigue following cardiothoracic surgery, estimate the therapeutic effect of acupuncture for postoperative fatigue following cardiothoracic surgery and study how it treat.Methods:50 patients who underwent cardiothoracic surgery were enrolled in this prospective, randomized, open-label study and prospectively randomised into two groups:acupuncture group(n=25) and control group (n=25). Patients in acupuncture group received acupuncture once every day the day after surgery until the tenth day after surgery when the control group did not. One day before surgery and the first, the fifth, the tenth day after surgery the fatigue degree were scored. Serum tryptophan concentration at the tenth day after surgery was measured. Bivariance correlation analysis was used to find out which factor contribute to postoperative fatigue following cardiothoracic surgery and it's rehabilitation.Results:The main type of syndrome of cardiothoracic surgery disease was deficiency of vital energy, accumulation of phlegm and blood stasis. After acupuncture, fatigue scores of the acupuncture group, which include symptoms scores, Christensen scores, POMS scores, were lower than the control group's. The symptoms scores of the acupuncture group at the fifth, the tenth day after surgery were 9.56±4.14 and 5.00±3.55, when the control group's were 12.84±3.36 and 9.48±3.19(P<0.05).The Christensen scores of the acupuncture group at the fifth, the tenth day after surgery were 7.61±0.72 and 4.60±1.68, when the control group's were 7.88±0.54 and 6.32±1.65(P<0.05).The POMS scores of the acupuncture group at the tenth day after surgery was 112.60±12.74, when the control group's was 132.08±11.19(P<0.05). Serum tryptophan concentration of the acupuncture group at the tenth day after surgery was 11.08±2.61ug/ml when the control group's was 9.31±2.26ug/ml. Preoperative fatigue was unrelated to postoperative fatigue. White blood corpuscle counts, haematoglobin concentration, serum sodium concentration, serum potassium concentration, serum chlorinum concentration, serum urea concentration, serum creatinine concentration, serum glucose concentration and ejection fraction were related to postoperative fatigue at the first day after surgery, but partially related to postoperative fatigue at the fifth day after surgery, and unrelated to postoperative fatigue at the tenth day after surgery. Operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass time and assisted circulation time were negative related to postoperative fatigue, so did the serum tryptophan concentration.Conclusion:The main type of syndrome of cardiothoracic surgery disease was deficiency of vital energy, accumulation of phlegm and blood stasis. White blood corpuscle counts, haematoglobin concentration, serum sodium concentration, serum potassium concentration, serum chlorinum concentration, serum urea concentration, serum creatinine concentration, serum glucose concentration, ejection fraction and serum tryptophan concentration contribute to postoperative fatigue following cardiothoracic surgery. Acupuncture can relieve postoperative fatigue following cardiothoracic surgery, it's mechanism may involve 5-hydroxytryptamine.