Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the effect of acupuncture Baihui and Neiguan together with Zusanli points on the incidence of postoperative delirium in elderly patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty of lower limbs under general anesthesia. Methods: 130 elder patients at Changzhou Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine undergoing elective total joint arthroplasty were randomly assigned into two groups either the control group (group C) or the experimental group (group T) by computer generated random sequences. All patients received acupuncture for 30 min before anesthesia induction. Patients in the group T were acupunctured at points of Baihui, Neiguan and Zusanli, while ineffective acupuncture was inserted into the skin about 0.5 cm near three points of patients in the group C. The CAM was used to assess delirium on 1, 3, 5 and 7 day after surgery. The RASS was used to assess the classification of delirium. MMSE scores were recorded on 1 day before surgery and 3 days after surgery. Anesthesia time, operation time, intraoperative bleeding volume, urine volume, intraoperative circulation fluctuation and extubation time of patients were recorded. The VAS scores were used to evaluate preoperative and postoperative pain in these patients. Incidence of postoperative complications (cerebral infarction, pulmonary embolism) were also recorded. Results: The incidence of POD in the group T was 4.6%, which was significantly lower than that in the group C (16.9% ) (P 0.05). CAM scores in the group T (17.05±2.57,15.86±2.15,14.82±2.06,14.58±1.90,13.62±1.81,13.55±1.74,12.55±1.74) were significantly lower than those in the group C (18.75±3.35,18.14±3.14,16.82±2.81,16.43±2.39,15.31±2.24,14.91±2.06,13.94±2.02) on the day 1, 3, 5 and 7 after surgery (P 0.001). There was no significant difference in delirium classification between the two groups (P 0.05). The MMSE score of the group T (23.22±1.71) was higher than that of the group C (21.54±1.83) on the 3rd day after surgery, and the difference was statistically significant (P 0.001). The extubation time in the group T (14.62±2.95 min) was significantly shorter than that in the group C (20.26±3.76 min) (P 0.001). Conclusion: Acupuncture Baihui, Neiguan combined with Zusanli can reduce the incidence of POD in elderly patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty of lower limbs under general anesthesia.
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