Intraoperative and Postoperative Anaesthetic and Analgesic Effect of Multipoint Transcutaneous Electrical Acupuncture Stimulation Combined with Sufentanil Anaesthesia in Patients Undergoing Supratentorial Craniotomy

Abstract

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number ChiCTR-TRC-10001078).

Postoperative Pain Control Following Craniotomy: A Systematic Review of Recent Clinical Literature

“…Existing evidence indicates that multipoint TEAS can shorten the anesthesia recovery time, improve the quality of recovery, and decrease the incidence of anesthesia‐related side effects for patients undergoing surgery . From the 2 RCTs included in our systematic review applying multipoint TEAS before induction to anesthesia for supratentorial craniotomy surgery as an adjunct to postoperative use of opioids, a notable reduction of pain scores occurred . The duration of this adjuvant beneficial effect ranged from 6 hours postoperatively to POD1, a finding contradictory to similar studies, which have demonstrated a constant pain improvement up to POD3 .…”

“…Two RCTs reporting the application of multipoint transcutaneous electric acupuncture stimulation (TEAS) before induction to anesthesia for postcraniotomy pain relief vs. placebo were identified and included a total of 176 patients . In both studies, use of multipoint electro‐acupuncture induced better pain control, lower incidence of moderate‐to‐severe dizziness and feeling of full head, and less need for fentanyl administration during the first 6 hours postoperatively compared with placebo.…”

“…Methodological quality assessment demonstrated an acceptable risk of bias ( Table 2). Postoperative pain constituted the primary outcome in 15 studies, [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] while in the remaining studies the main point of interest was intraoperative performance, 28,29 postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), 30 or cost analysis of the tested analgesics. 31 On the basis of analgesic regimen used for postcraniotomy pain management, the selected articles were divided into 3 subcategories: systemic pharmacological intervention, [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]28,30,31 scalp infiltration/block, [24][25][26] and nonpharmacological intervention mainly involving acupuncture, 27,29 enrolling a total of 1,805 patients of both sexes.…”

The Role of Perioperative Acupoint Stimulation in the Prevention of Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction

“…Compared with conventional anesthesia, anesthesia with acupoint stimulation together made the amount of narcotic drugs, extubation and recovery time had a significantly reduction (1,22), which helped anesthetists to optimize management of patients' perioperative blood pressure (23). In another research, a conclusion can be inferred that because of the perioperative acupoint stimulation, concentrations of markers of brain injury S-100β protein in serum are also declined (24).…”

“…Since the 1950s, research and application of perioperative stimulate acupuncture are mainly concentrated in anesthesia and analgesia, its underlying biological mechanisms are largely unknown. So far, numerous studies have confirmed the effectiveness of assisted anesthesia by acupuncture, which can reduce the amount of narcotic drugs, mitigate stress, reduce complications and improve the patients' quality of life (1).…”