[Modern acupuncture anesthesia and its clinical practice]

Acupuncture anesthesia is an innovative anesthesia technique which combines acupuncture therapy of traditional Chinese medicine with western anesthesia and surgery. Modern acupuncture anesthesia technology involves comprehensive preoperative evaluation and application, intraoperative assistance in anesthesia, and enhanced recovery after surgery, forming a set of perioperative management models with Chinese characteristics. In the present paper, we comprehensively summarized the application scenarios (including craniocerebral operations, neck surgery, cardiac and thoracic surgery, abdominal operation, obstetrical and gynecological operations, anorectal operation, and orthopedic operation) and values (such as analgesia, reduction in nausea and vomiting, accelerating recovery of gastrointestinal function, regulating immune function, etc.) of modern acupuncture anesthesia technology in the perioperative period, and also analyzed its advantages ［(1) fewer physiological interference to the patient, reducing operation-induced organ damage, and accelerating postoperative recovery； (2) no obvious adverse reactions and high safety； (3) significant social and economic benefits］, current challenges and opportunities of modern acupuncture anesthesia techniques. We think that it is urgent to formulate a set of consensus guidelines and reference for modern acupuncture anesthesia for each type of relevant operations based on evidence-based medicine, actively draw on, absorb and introduce the latest evidence-based concepts and research methodologies and technologies, strive to create new theories, new methods and new technologies, carry out standardized sustainable research, enrich and improve its own system and to expand its application scope through exchanges and mutual learning with cutting-edge technologies of modern medicine.