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Electropress Needle Stimulation for the Prevention of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: A Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial

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Abstract

Background

Being overweight or obese is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide and seriously endangers human health. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) has been successfully used for the treatment of severe obesity, but the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is high. However, traditional antiemetics have limited effects on PONV. Electropress needle therapy, which can be enhanced with electrical stimulation, is a promising therapy for the prevention and treatment of PONV. However, whether the electropress needle is effective for PONV in patients with LSG remains uncertain.

Methods

This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial. A total of 106 patients who planned to undergo elective LSG between October 2021 and July 2022 were randomly allocated to receive electropress needle stimulation combined with dexamethasone and granisetron (group A) or dexamethasone plus granisetron (group B). The primary outcome was the incidence of PONV 48 h after surgery. The secondary outcomes were PONV severity score, time to first flatus, length of hospital stay, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and postoperative remedial medication use.

Results

Compared with dexamethasone plus granisetron, electropress needle stimulation combined with dexamethasone and granisetron significantly decreased the incidence and severity of PONV (P<0.001). Patients in Group A consumed less antiemetics postoperatively (P<0.05) and had a much shorter length of postoperative hospital stay (P<0.05). There was no difference in the time to first flatus between the two groups (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Electropress needle acupoint stimulation can reduce the incidence and severity of PONV in patients undergoing LSG.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all participants for sharing their experiences and the Weight Loss Surgery Team of Chengdu Fifth People’s Hospital for their support during the study. In addition, thanks to Hangzhou Yuanli Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. for providing electropress needle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Geriatric Diseases Institute of Chengdu/Cancer Prevention and Treatment Institute of Chengdu, Chengdu Fifth People’s Hospital (The Second Clinical Medical College, Affiliated Fifth People’s Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine), Chengdu, 611137, China

    Min Zeng, Tingting Zheng, Xi Yan, Feng Yuan & Bingbing Xiang

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, Pidu District People’s Hospital, Chengdu & The Third Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu, 611730, China

    Junxiang Li

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  1. Min Zeng
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  2. Junxiang Li
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  5. Feng Yuan
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  6. Bingbing Xiang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Junxiang Li.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by the institutional review boards at Chengdu Fifth People’s Hospital (Approval number: 2021-032-01).

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was obtained from the participant included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Key points

Electropress needle stimulation can significantly reduce the incidence and severity of PONV in patients undergoing LSG.

Electropress needles may shorten the length of postoperative hospital stay for LSG.

Patients in the electropress needle group consumed less antiemetics postoperatively.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Modified Aldrete Scores
Full size table
Table 6 The Chinese version of the Rhodes index of nausea and vomiting
Full size table

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Zeng, M., Li, J., Zheng, T. et al. Electropress Needle Stimulation for the Prevention of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy: A Prospective, Randomized Controlled Trial. OBES SURG 33, 2831–2840 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-023-06752-7

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