Effects of Intraoperative Electro-acupuncture on Healthy Dogs Undergoing Anesthesia for Elective Procedures: A Randomized, Controlled, Blinded Clinical Trial

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of intraoperative electro-acupuncture (EAP) on duration of anesthetic recovery, immediate postoperative pain and isoflurane use in healthy dogs undergoing elective surgical procedures. Twenty-nine healthy dogs admitted for elective ovariohysterectomy or orchiectomy were enrolled and randomly assigned to either the EAP (n = 14) or control (n = 15) study groups. Subjects in the EAP Group were intubated and moved into the surgery suite. Acupuncture needles were then placed at LIV-13, ST-36 and GB-34 bilaterally with EAP started and maintained (at 20 Hz) for 20 minutes during the surgical procedure. Subjects in the Control Group did not receive any treatment after being moved into the surgery suite. Outcome data included time to extubation after the discontinuation of gas anesthesia, postoperative pain score (1 hour, 2 hours) and isoflurane concentration. The EAP Group had a significantly shorter anesthetic recovery time (mean±SD = 5.93 ±2.81 minutes) when compared to the Control Group (8.87 ±2.75 minutes; p = 0.007). Mean postoperative pain scores were nonsignificantly lower with EAP treatment at 1 hour (1.5±1.5, -25%) and 2 hours (1.82 ±2.0, -22%) when compared to control means (2.0 ±3.1 at 1 hour, 2.3±3.4 at 2 hours). There was no statistical difference between groups for isoflurane use. The study concluded that performing intraoperative EAP could shorten the time between discontinuation of gas anesthesia to extubation in healthy dogs undergoing an elective surgical procedure. Larger scale trials are warranted to validate the findings of this study and other potential benefits such as improved analgesia.