Acupuncture-assisted-anesthesia to Improve Postoperative Outcome After Digestive Surgery in Elderly Patients

Patients older than 65 years old are at higher risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality. With the increasing number of old patients scheduled for digestive surgery, exploring methods to decrease postoperative morbidity is very important. Noninvasive methods may be easier to clinically use. Transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS)has been proved to decrease need for general anesthetics during anesthesia, and to alleviate systemic inflammatory response. Considering the morbidity and mortality after surgery is closely related to use of anesthetics and inflammatory response,TEAS may be a good selection for improving postoperative outcomes.Among the postoperative complications, pulmonary complication and systemic inflammatory response syndrome is with higher incidence, so we will focus on these two complications in our study.

Inclusion criteria

• Provide written informed consent
• Age ≥65 years of age
• Elective digestive surgery under general anesthesia

Exclusion criteria

• ASA(American Society of Anesthesiologists) status> Ⅲ
• Patients undergoing surgery within 12 h of admission to hospital
• Patients undergoing surgery of the chest
• Patients suffered from neurologic disorder or impaired mental state
• Patients with contraindications to the use of electro-acupuncture, such as skin damage or infection at the acupoints
• Patients with experience of transcutaneous electrical stimulation treatment