Gastrointestinal motility disorders and acupuncture

Shahabinejad

Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies

et al. 2017

Postoperative ileus (POI) is a common complication after most abdominal surgeries including cesarean section. It is associated with longer hospitalization and increased medical costs. This study is a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of acupressure, and low-cost noninvasive traditional treatment, on POI symptoms after cesarean section. A total of 120 patients were randomly divided into two groups; the treatment group received two sessions of acupressure (an hour after attending the women's division; and 3 hours after the first session), each lasting 20 minutes. The time of flatus and defecation, time to presence of bowel sounds, and duration of postoperative bed rest were monitored. Patients in the treatment group had a shorter time to presence of bowel sounds compared with those in the control group (p < 0.001), as well as shorter time to first passage of flatus (p < 0.001) and shorter postoperative bed rest (p Z 0.005). However, the time to first defecation was not statistically significant (p Z 0.311). Acupressure has potential positive impacts on attenuating POI symptoms after cesarean section, and can be used as a low-cost noninvasive nursing care to reduce POI incidence and intensity after cesarean section.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Acupressure on Symptoms of Postoperative Ileus After Cesarean Section

Shahabinejad

Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies

et al. 2017

Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine

“…In addition, EA has been demonstrated to modulate gastric motility through regulating the expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1, a Ca 2+ -permeable non-selective cation channel that has important physiological functions in peripheral and central nervous systems (20,21). In recent decades, numerous studies on patients and animals have been performed to elucidate the effects of acupuncture on gastric myoelectrical activity as well as the underlying mechanisms (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). However, the exact mechanisms by which acupuncture improves gastric motility and dyspeptic symptoms have yet to be elucidated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroacupuncture combined with mosapride alleviates symptoms in diabetic patients with gastroparesis

Pan

Wang

Tian

et al. 2017

Abstract. The present study compared the clinical effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA), monotherapy and combination therapy involving the administration of EA and mosapride in diabetic patients with severe or mild symptoms suggestive of gastroparesis. A total of 56 patients with type 2 diabetes who had symptoms suggestive of gastroparesis for >3 months were divided into two groups according to the Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index (GCSI) score, including 33 in the mild group (GCSI score <3.5) and 23 in the severe group (GCSI score ≥3.5). Initially, all patients received EA monotherapy for 14 days. An effective response was defined as a reduction of the overall baseline GCSI score by >25% after treatment. The non-responding patients then received a combination treatment with EA and mosapride. Gastric emptying was assessed by the 13 C-octanoic acid breath test at the beginning and end of each treatment session. Two patients in the severe group dropped out of the study during the initial treatment session. The results revealed that 34 early-responding patients (30 from the mild group and 4 from the severe group) treated with EA monotherapy, and 20 non-early-responding patients receiving combination therapy with EA and mosapride showed clinically significant improvements. Analysis of data from the mild subgroup demonstrated that EA treatment specifically improved symptoms of nausea, vomiting, stomach fullness, excessive fullness and bloating. There was no statistically significant difference in the gastric half-emptying time among patients prior to and after EA monotherapy. These preliminary results suggested that EA may be an option for improving mild symptoms in patients with diabetic gastroparesis, whereas combination therapy involving EA and pharmaceutics is required in patients with severe symptoms.

“…Both animal experiments and clinical studies have shown that acupuncture can induce gastrointestinal transit after abdominal surgery and normalize gastrointestinal function [8][9][10][11]. Moreover, EA has been found to promote colonic motility and prevent formation of postoperative intra-abdominal adhesions [12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2017

IJCAM

Postoperative ileus is a type of bowel dysmotility that may occur after surgery. It is a particularly common occurrence after abdominal surgery and is characterized by bloating due to accumulation of fluid and flatus in the bowel, pain, nausea, vomiting, intolerance to solid food, and delayed passage of flatus and formed stool [1]. The incidence of postoperative ileus among patients who underwent colectomy in United States in the year 2004 was 17.4% [2]. The etiopathogenesis of postoperative ileus is not completely understood; however, surgical manipulation, inflammatory response, and inhibitory neural reflexes are believed to be involved in its causation [3][4][5]. Postoperative ileus accounts for a considerable morbidity and economic burden and has a detrimental effect on patient satisfaction [6][7]. Acupuncture and moxibustion are traditional Chinese medical modalities that have been in use over the past 2000 years. Acupuncture involves piercing of meridian points (acupoints) on the body with needles for therapeutic purposes. Moxibustion involves the application of smoldering moxa cones or sticks directly or indirectly on acupoints. With advances in acupuncture techniques, other methods for therapeutic stimulation of acupoints on the basis of meridian theory have emerged, including auriculotherapy (puncture of certain reactive spots on the auricle), electroacupuncture (EA; a combination of needling and electrostimulation), acupoint injection (AI; injection of certain Chinese and/or Western pharmaceutical agents into acupoints), acupressure (application of pressure over acupoints instead of needles), and catgut embedment at the acupoints (CE; implantation of chromic catgut into acupoints for continuous stimulation). AbstractIntroduction: Postoperative ileus is a common complication of gastrointestinal surgery, which leads to unsatisfactory outcomes with current therapies. In this review, we examined whether acupoint stimulation after gastrointestinal surgery can help hasten postoperative recovery of the digestive system.