Acupoint Stimulation for Enhanced Recovery After Colon Surgery: A Prospective Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Zhihong Lu; Ailin Luo; Su Min; Hailong Dong; Qiuju Xiong; Xinhua Li; Qingzhu Deng; Tingting Liu; Xue Yang; Chen Li; Qingchuan Zhao; Lize Xiong

doi:10.2147/JMDH.S391852

Acupoint Stimulation for Enhanced Recovery After Colon Surgery: A Prospective Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

J Multidiscip Healthc. 2022 Dec 19:15:2871-2879. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S391852. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zhihong Lu^#¹, Ailin Luo^#², Su Min^#³, Hailong Dong¹, Qiuju Xiong³, Xinhua Li², Qingzhu Deng², Tingting Liu¹, Xue Yang¹, Chen Li⁴, Qingchuan Zhao⁵, Lize Xiong^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anaesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Anaesthesiology, Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Anaesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Medical Statistics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Translational Research Institute of Brain and Brain-Like Intelligence and Department of Anesthesiology, Shanghai Fourth People's Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) in improving bowel function and thus shortening hospital stay after laparoscopic colon surgery within the ERAS pathway.

Patients and methods: From November 2016 to March 2018, 100 patients who underwent elective colon surgery were enrolled and 94 finished study (n = 47 for each) in three university hospitals. Patients in the TEAS group received TEAS 30 min before surgery and once a day for 3 days after surgery, while those in the Control Group received no stimulation. Primary outcome was the time to discharge.

Results: Compared with standardized postoperative care, TEAS resulted in a shorter time to first flatus (P=0.03) and time to first defecation (P=0.03), as well as a reduction in the length of hospital stay (P=0.02). Median patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) deliveries and PCA attempts at 24h, 48h and 72h after surgery were less in the TEAS group (P<0.01). No evidence of significant advantages in postoperative pain intensity, nausea, vomiting, sleeping quality and expenses was found in the TEAS group.

Conclusion: Perioperative TEAS further shortens the time to meet discharge criteria after laparoscopic colon surgery in patients under ERAS strategy.

Keywords: ERAS; colon surgery; laparoscopy; transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation.

Publication types

Case Reports
Clinical Trial

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB543200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81871028), the National Cultivation and Development Program (2021ZY019) and the Aeromedical Flow Principal Investigator Program of Air Force Medical University (2022HYPI02).