Effects Of Different Stimulation Time Duration Of Transcutaneous Electric Acupoint Stimulation(TEAS)on Acupuncture-Drug Balanced Anesthesia: Prospective,Randomized,Double-blinded,Controlled Clinical Trial

BackgroundIn recent years,application of acupuncture anesthesia has become more and more popular,the reports about acupuncture anesthesia also increased with a high speed.The beneficial effects of acupuncture-drug balanced anesthesia have been extensively testified.There are many clinical effects of acupuncture anesthesia during the perioperative period,including alleviating the anxiety of patients before the operation,protecting the important organs and reducing the consumption of anesthetics during the surgery,improving the recovery of gastrointestinal function,decreasing the occurrence of post operative nausea and operative vomiting,analgesia,and so on.Because the particular standards of the parameters for acupuncture-drug balanced anesthesia are lacking,researchers often set parameters on the basis of previous research reports and their clinical experiences,and then leading the differences of clinical efficacy.The time duration of stimulation is one of the important factors.Therefore,to find the suitable stimulation time duration has great significance in the clinical application of acupuncture anesthesia during perioperative period.In order to compare the beneficial effects of short-term and long-term stimulation of acupuncture,we designed our study.ObjectiveThe clinical effects of short-term stimulation(stimulation of 30 min before the induction of anesthesia)and long-term stimulation(stimulation begin at 30 min before the induction of anesthesia,and ended at the surgery over)are compared in order to explore the best time duration of acupuncture.MethodsPatients undergoing elective gynecological laparoscopic operation accepted the sham stimulation(no stimulation),short-term stimulation(stimulation of 30 min before the induction of anesthesia)or long-term stimulation(stimulation begin at 30 min before the induction of anesthesia,and ended at the surgery over)according to the random numbers.The primary outcome of our study is the total dosage of Remifentanil(ug.kg-1.min-1).The secondary outcomes are the time of recovery and extubation,postoperative pain,nausea and vomiting,side effects such as dizziness and pruritus,and hospitalization after operation.ResultsA total of 108 patients were included in the study.And there were 101 patients finally finished study.The dosages of remifentanil used in the two TEAS groups were significantly decreased than Sham group.The recovery time and extubation time were also shorter,pain was relieved,and the incidences of side-effects were also alleviated in TEAS groups.However,we were surprised that there were no significant differences of meaningful effects between short-term and long-term TEAS groups.Furthermore,there were no statistical differences of hospitalization among the three groups.ConclusionThe study proves that the acupuncture-drug balanced anesthesia can relieve the pain effectively.And it can accelerate the revival of patients,reduce the side-effects,and finally promote the recovery of patients.However,the beneficial effects of short-term and long-term acupuncture are nearly the same.Therefore,maybe a short-term acupuncture should be used in the future.