Acupuncture Enhances Gastrointestinal Motility and Improves Autonomic Nervous Function in Patients with Septic Gastrointestinal Dysfunction

Abstract

Gastrointestinal dysfunction (GD) is a common complication after endotoxemia, which can further aggravate the progress of infection. Acupuncture uses metal needles of different shapes and techniques to stimulate specific points on the human body, which are effective in treating various diseases, including gastrointestinal diseases. We aimed at exploring the clinical effect of acupuncture on the recovery of visceral sensation, proximal gastric compliance, and autonomic nervous function in patients with septic GD. A total of 73 sepsis with GD patients were selected using modified single section ultrasonography combined with clinical symptoms in the First People’s Hospital of Lanzhou City during 2019. The participants were randomly allocated to routine-treatment (control group) and study group receiving acupuncture. The indexes before and after treatment included gastric residue, gastric dilatation, pressure and volume, gastric compliance, autonomic nerve function, APACHE II score, and infection index were measured and compared. Before treatment, there was no significant difference in the basic information of the two groups, including gastric volume and pressure, gastric residue, gastric compliance, autonomic nerve function, and APACHE II score. After treatment, the maximum gastric volume and pressure, gastric residue, and APACHE II score of the two groups were significantly improved ( P < 0.05 ). In addition, the maximum gastric volume and pressure of the study group were significantly higher, while gastric residual, autonomic nerve function, and APACHE II were significantly lower than those of the control group ( P < 0.05 ). However, our results showed that acupuncture did not further reduce inflammatory markers, including white blood cells, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin. To sum up, on the basis of basic treatment, the application of acupuncture can further improve the clinical symptoms of GD in patients with sepsis, enhance gastrointestinal motility, and improve autonomic nervous function, which is worthy of clinical application and promotion.

Use of prokinetic agents in hospitalised adult patients: A scoping review

“…Other agents included serotonin receptor agonists (cisapride, mosapride, prucalopride, TAK‐954) (18%) and dopamine antagonists (domperidone and itopride) (10%). Five studies investigated alternative interventions as prokinetic agents, for example, three studies investigated acupuncture 16,38,55,57,95 …”

“…We included 102 studies with a total of 8830 patients (Figure 1). Eighty‐six studies (84%) were clinical trials 13–98 and 16 (14%) were observational studies 99–114 . Nine studies (7%) were only available in the form of a conference abstract; seven clinical trials and two observational studies 88–93,96,100,107 .…”

“…All 58 studies in the ICU reported non‐patient‐centred outcomes. In total 41 studies 13–23,25–37,40,41,44–46,50–52,54–56,76,85,92,95,100,101 addressed gastric emptying, which was reported in different ways, for example, as gastric residual volume 15–23,26,27,30,32,36,40,41,44–47,49,52,54–56,76,92,95,100,101 or the percentage of enteral nutrition received 14,21,23,26,29,36,40,41,47,49,54,99,102 …”

“…All 58 studies in the ICU reported non-patient-centred outcomes. In total 41 studies [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]40,41,[44][45][46][50][51][52][54][55][56]76,85,92,95,100,101 addressed gastric emptying, which was reported in different ways, for example, as gastric residual volume [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]26,27,30,32,36,…”

“…In the ICU setting, the most studied indications were feeding intolerance with 40 studies (68%), [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]26,28,29,[31][32][33][34][35][36][40][41][42][44][45][46][47][49][50][51][52][54][55][56]92,[99][100][101][102] followed by improvement of GI motility with 10 studies, (17%), 25,27,30,37,57,76,77,83,95,108 improvement of visualisation before endoscopy, three studies (5%) 67,69,70 and to promote recovery of bowel dysfunction postoperatively, two studies (3%). 85,…”