Clinical efficacy of acupuncture on the morphine-related side effects in patients undergoing spinal-epidural anesthesia and analgesia

Objective To investigate the effects of acupuncture on the morphine-related side effects (nausea, vomiting, itchiness and gastrointestinal disorders) in patients undergoing anesthesia and analgesia and try to find the clinical mechanism of acupuncture. Methods Patients scheduled to have transurethral prostatic resection: enrolled in the study (69 patients), characterized as Grade II or III by the American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification, were randomly assigned to three groups, 23 patients in each group: the placebo group (control group), non-anesthesia area (NAA) group, and the anesthesia area (AA) group. After spinal anesthesia, all patients received Patients Controlled Epidural Analgesia. The vital signs, bowel sounds, visual analogue scales, itchiness, nausea and vomiting, and time for first exhaust post operation were observed. Results Altogether, nine cases were eliminated, three in each group. Finally, sixty cases completed this study,: twenty in each group. There was a significant decrease of bowel sounds after morphine spinal anesthesia in the three groups. Compared with the control or AA group, the bowel sound recovered after acupuncture, the incidences of nausea and vomiting, itchiness, and time for first exhaust after operation decreased in the NAA group ( P <0.05). There was a significant decrease of the incidence for itchiness in the NAA group compared with 更多