ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effect of acupuncture-drug compound anesthesia on immune function in patients with extracorporeal circulation undergoing cardiac surgery.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty cases undergoing cardiac surgery which included atrial septal defect neoplasty, ventricular septal defect neoplasty, mitral valve replacement and pulmonary valve coarctotomy were randomly divided into group A and group B, 15 cases in each group. Group A was given general anesthesia plus acupuncture at Neiguan (PC 6), Lieque (LU 7) and Yunmen (LU 2), and group B was given simple general anesthesia. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels before and after surgery were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The level of TNF-alpha was increased and the levels of IL-2 and IL-10 in the serum were decreased in both groups after extracorporeal circulation for 2 h and 24 h, and the ranges of all changes were more less in group A (all P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Compared with simple general anesthesia, acupuncture-drug compound anesthesia can improve immune suppression partially in the perioperative periods under the same conditions of controlling anesthesia degree.</p>