Combined acupuncture and general anesthesia on immune and cognitive function in elderly patients following subtotal gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of acupuncture combined with general anesthesia on postoperative immune and cognitive functions in elderly patients undergoing subtotal gastrectomy. We recruited 96 elderly patients who received anesthesia for subtotal gastrectomy and randomly divided them into control (n=48) and experimental (n=48) groups. The control group received general anesthesia and the experimental group received combined acupuncture and general anesthesia. We measured hemodynamic immediately before and after anesthesia induction, and immune observations before and after surgery. We found no significant differences in mean heart rate (HR), mean oxygen saturation (SpO2), and partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide (PETCO2) in the perioperative period between the two groups. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) was lower in the experimental group than that in the control group (P<0.05). The levels of cluster of differentiation 3 (CD3+), CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ in both groups were significantly lower after surgery in both groups (P<0.05). We also found some time-points in which the immune markers where significantly higher in the experimental group. In terms of adverse reactions, there were no differences in nausea, vomiting, and hypoxemia between the two groups (P>0.05), but the incidence of delayed recovery and postoperative agitation were significantly lower in the experimental group compared with those in the control group (P<0.05). One day after surgery, the experimental group showed better protection of cognitive function than the control group (P<0.05). Overall, combined acupuncture and general anesthesia in elderly gastric cancer patients receiving subtotal gastrectomy showed more stable hemodynamics and fewer stress responses during surgery. Thus, combined acupuncture and general anesthesia can shorten the recovery time from anesthesia, have less negative effects on immune function and decrease the incidence of postoperative cognitive impairment.

Effect of a psychological nursing intervention on quality of life and cognitive function in patients with gastric carcinoma: A randomised controlled trial

“…Hong et al reported that tailored psychological intervention could enable newly diagnosed GC patients to appropriately cope with the disease and improve their QoL (Hong, Wei, & Wang, 2015). The immune and cognitive functions in elderly GC patients might also be compromised following subtotal gastrectomy (Wang, Ou, & Qing, 2018). In addition, patients with GC were found with altered intrinsic brain activity (e.g.…”

Effect of Combined Acupuncture Anesthesia on Surgical Dosage and Serum IL-4, IL-10 of Pneumonectomy Patients

“…Combined use of above acuepoints can both ease pain and reduce cardiovascular stress. 8 In clinical general anesthesia, propofol is often used for sedation, and fentanyl is used for analgesia. The combination of propofol and fentanyl improves analgesia and sedation effects.…”

Acupuncture for post-operative cognitive dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…A total of 16 studies [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] were included. A flow diagram summarizing study outcomes is shown in Figure 1.…”

“…The 16 studies that were included [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] were all conducted in China and collectively enrolled a total of 1241 participants. All patients were over the age of 60 and underwent non-cardiac surgery under general anesthesia.…”

“…All patients were over the age of 60 and underwent non-cardiac surgery under general anesthesia. Both abdominal [19][20][21][23][24][25][26]28,[30][31][32][33] and orthopedic surgeries 18,22,27,29 were included. The frequency of acupuncture treatment differed among studies.…”