Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation for Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction
Condition: Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction
MeSH terms: Postoperative Cognitive Complications; Cognitive Dysfunction
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is one of the common complications of cancer
      patients after operation with a 8.9%-46.1% incidence, which severely affecting patients'
      postoperative recovery, increasing the medical cost, affecting the social function of
      patients, reducing the quality of life and increasing the mortality.

      Surgical trauma and perioperative pain can induce systematic inflammatory response and
      release systematic inflammatory mediators, which can enter the central nervous system (CNS)
      and lead to CNS inflammatory. In order to prevent the development of POCD among elder
      patients, the discovery of effective interventions reducing perioperative pain and
      inflammatory response is important.

      Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation (TEAS) is a non-invasive alternative to
      needle-based electro-acupuncture (EA). It combines the acupuncture and transcutaneous
      electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) by pasting the electrode piece on the acupoint instead of
      sticking the needles on the skin. TEAS can trigger the release of endogenous
      neurotransmitters, releasing endogenous analgesic substances, such as endorphins. TEAS also
      can reduce the intraoperative anesthetic consumption, postoperative pain score, postoperative
      nausea and vomiting (PONV), and improve the postoperative recovery of patients. Recently,
      TEAS was found to improve the cognitive function of geriatric patients with silent lacunar
      infarction. However, the current TEAS mainly focus on intraoperative. The effect of
      perioperative TEAS on POCD is not clear.

      Here, the effect of TEAS on POCD in geriatric adults undergoing radical resection of
      gastrointestinal tumors under general anesthesia was investigated to determine whether TEAS
      can decrease perioperative pain or inflammatory response to prevent the occurrence of POCD
      and to find out the relationship among perioperative TEAS, inflammatory response,
      postoperative pain, and POCD preliminarily.
    

Detailed description: 
      This study aims to evaluate the effect of perioperative transcutaneous electrical acupoint
      stimulation (TEAS) on postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) in elderly patients who were
      diagnosed with gastrointestinal tumor and received radical resection of gastrointestinal
      tumors under general anesthesia and to determine the relationship among perioperative TEAS,
      inflammatory response, postoperative pain, and POCD preliminarily.
    

Intervention name(s): Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation
Intervention type(s): Device
Intervention description(s): According to the traditional Chinese medicine 15,three acupuncture points were selected as the target points: bilateral Neiguan ,Yintang and bilateral Zusanli.. A transcutaneous electrical stimulator was used to provide an altered frequency 2/100 Hz,disperse-dense waves,and adjusted intensity which was less than 10mA.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation group and control group
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: POCD; TEAS; Gastrointestinal tumor