[Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation promotes general anesthesia recovery in patients undergoing...

To observe the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) on the recovery of patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery under general anesthesia.

Sixty patients (ASA Ⅱ-Ⅲ) selected for scheduled gastrointestinal surgery were randomly divided into control group and TEAS group (n=30 cases per group). Patients in the two groups received general anesthesia, and those of the TEAS group also received TEAS for 30 min (8-12 mA) immediately after surgery. The changes of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR) before anesthesia, before acupoint stimulation, before extubation, immediately after extubation, 10 and 30 min after extubation were recorded. The recovery time of spontaneous breathing, extubation time, VAS scores and Bruggman comfort scale (BCS) scores at the time of discharging from postanesthesia care unit (PACU) were recorded.

Compared with the control group, the recovery time of spontaneous breathing and extubation time were significantly shorter （P<0.05）, the VAS score was significantly lower (P<0.05), and the BCS score significantly increased in the TEAS group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between two groups in the levels of SBP, DBP and HR at each time point (P>0.05).

TEAS can accelerate the gastrointestinal surgery patients' recovery from general anesthesia, enhance the postoperative analgesic effect, improve patients' discomfort, has less adverse reactions, and is thus conducive to promote the postoperative rehabilitation.