Objective: To observe the auxiliary analgesic effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture on patients undergoing transforaminal endoscope surgery.
Methods: A total of 64 patients with lumbar disc herniation who underwent percutaneous lateral transforaminal endoscope surgery were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 32 cases in each group. The patients in the control group were treated with injection of 1% lidocaine for routine local infiltration anesthesia. The patients in the observation group were treated with wrist-ankle acupuncture at lower 5 area and lower 6 area for 30 min, 5 min before routine local infiltration anesthesia; immediately, 15 min, 30 min after insertion the left-right technique, up-down technique, and rotation technique were applied for six times, respectively. The mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pain visual analogue scale (VAS) were compared between the two groups at the time points of intraoperative puncture (T1), circular saw grinding (T2), and placement of working channel (T3). The intention of reoperation was recorded immediately after operation and 24 h after operation. The expectation and treatment credibility scale (ETCS) was used to evaluate the relationship between patients' expectation and efficacy 5 min before operation and immediately after operation.
Results: At T2 and T3 during the operation, the MAP and HR in the obserrvation group were lower than those in the control group, while SpO2 was higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). At T1, there was no significant difference of MAP, HR and SpO2 between the two groups (P>0.05). At T2, the peak VAS and average VAS in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference at T1 and T3 (P>0.05). The intention of reoperation in the observation group was higher than that in the control group both immediately after operation and 24 h after operation (P<0.05). In the observation group, the scores of each item in ETCS immediately after operation were higher than those 5 min before operation (P<0.05), while in the control group there was no significant difference between immediately after operation and 5 min before operation (P>0.05). The scores of ETCS1, ETCS2 and ETCS3 immediately after operation in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The wrist-ankle acupuncture has positive auxiliary analgesic effect on lumbago during transforaminal endoscope surgery, and strengthens the patients' confidence on the operation effect.
Keywords: analgesia; lumbar disc herniation; transforaminal endoscope surgery; wrist-ankle acupuncture.