J Anesth Perioper Med. 2017;4(6):243-249. https://doi.org/10.24015/ebcmed.japm.2017.0093

Potential Role of Acupoint Thread-Embedding to Enhance Recovery in Patients Undergoing Pulmonary Lobectomy

Xichun Xing, Dengming Zhao, Yihong Li, and Wenzhi Li

From the Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Heilongjiang Key Laboratory of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Research & Key Laboratory for Basic Theory and Application of Anesthesiology of the Heilongjiang Higher Education Institution, Harbin, China.

Correspondence to Dr. Wenzhi Li at wenzhili9@126.com.

EBCMED ID: ebcmed.japm.2017.0093 DOI: 10.24015/ebcmed.japm.2017.0093


Abstract

Background
Thoracic surgery is associated with marked impairment of pulmonary function and severe postoperative pain, which can increase the incidence of postoperative complications and adversely affect recovery after surgery. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether acupoint thread-embedding can play a beneficial effect for patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy and enhance postoperative recovery.

Methods
A total of fifty patients, ASA I or II, undergoing pulmonary lobectomy were randomly divided into the thread-embedding group (group TE) or control group (group C). One day prior to surgery, patients in the group TE received minimally invasive acupoint thread-embedding. While patients in the group C did not receive any intervention. Visual analog score (VAS) in resting state and Bruggemann comfort scale (BCS) were evaluated after surgery. Blood samples were collected to determine the plasma levels of inflammatory factors before surgery, 10 minutes after finishing one-lung ventilation (OLV), 24 and 72 hours after surgery. The postoperative hospital stay was recorded. Meanwhile, postoperative complications were observed during the follow-up period.

Results
The patients in the group TE exhibited significantly lower VAS from 2 hours after surgery, and at 48 hours after surgery the VAS in the group TE was still much lower compared with the group C (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the BCS of patients in the group TE was higher than that in the group C (P < 0.05). The IL-6 levels in the two groups increased after finishing OLV, and reached the peak levels at 24 hours after surgery. However, IL-6 levels in the group TE decreased significantly compared to the group C at 72 hours after surgery (P < 0.05). At 24 hours after surgery 2 cases of patients in the group C developed hypoxemia (pulse oximetry < 90%). However, no patient in the group TE developed hypoxemia. The postoperative hospital stay in the group TE was shorter than that in the group C (P < 0.05).

Conclusions
The results of the study showed that acupoint thread-embedding can play a beneficial role for patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy and enhance postoperative recovery. (Funded by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University; Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) number, ChiCTR-INR-16007922.)

Article Type
Original Article

Declaration of Interests
The authors have no other potential conflicts of interest for this work.

Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University for the Study on Prevention and Treatment of Perioperative Lung Injury (ZD2008-02).
We thank Dr. Wenshan Sun, from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of the Fifth People’s Hospital of Shanghai Affiliated to Fudan University, for his technical assistance.

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