Effect of Preoperative Acupuncture on Peri-operative Pain in Patients Following a Thoracotomy / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the effect of preoperative effect on peri-operative pain in patients following a thoracotomy. Methods: 120 cases following lung-cancer thoracotomy were randomly allocated into four groups, 30 in each group. Cases in group A and B were treated with acupuncture analgesia 3 d before operation; cases in group A and C were treated with acupuncture analgesia after operation; and cases in group D were treated with general anesthesia. The pain management indexes in four groups were all controlled below 3. After that, analgesia-related β-endorphin and stress-related cortisol were observed before and after operation. In addition, the specific doses of postoperative analgesic-Fentanyl in four groups were compared. Results: The comparison of β-endorphin between group A, C and D showed P<0.05 one day before operation, so did group B, C and D 1 day before operation. The intra-group comparison of cortisol between the day of admission and 1 day after extubation and between 1 day before operation and one day after extubation in group A, B and D showed P<0.05, so did group C between the day of admission and 1 day after extubation. In addition, the contents of Fentanyl in postoperative analgesic pump in four groups showed P<0.05 through one-factor analysis of variance, showing a significant difference. Conclusion: Preemptive analgesia could increase the β-endorphin in patients following a thoracotomy and showed remarkable advantage when compared with the conventional postoperative analgesia. It did not cause significant difference regarding stress index cortisol. Acupuncture has no remarkable advantage when compared with operation and extubation for the major immediate stress. Additionally, postoperative acupuncture could be a substitute for the dose of pain killers and the match can be reduced by 20%.