Clinical application of “combined acupuncture-drug anesthesia” to the operations on cerebral function areas

Abstract

Objective: To find out whether high resection rate and low incidence of disability can be obtained from operations for tumors on cerebral functional areas by applying “combined acupuncture-drug anesthesia”Methods: According to the route of entry of operations, two different groups of acupoints for body acupuncture combined with ear acupuncture therapy were applied.Results: Among the 80 patients operated on, 20 were suffering from tumors in the speech center, 60 in the sensorimotor center. Good result was obtained from all the operations. Grade 1 effective rate of acupuncture anesthesia reached 100%. None of the patients experienced aggravation of dysphasia or dysfunction. Five patients showed aggravation of myasthenia and dysesthesia, but all of them recovered within 2-4 weeks.Conclusions: High resection rate and low incidence of disability may result from operations performed with “combined acupuncture-drug anesthesia;” so this kind of anesthesia can be used as a routine anesthetic method for operations.