Plasma adrenaline increases in anesthetized patients given electro-acupuncture
before surgery.
Author(s): Kvorning N(1), Akeson J.
Affiliation(s): Author information:
(1)Department of Anesthesiology, Roskilde Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark.
nina.kvorning@swipnet.se
Publication date & source: 2010, Pain Med. , 11(7):1126-31
PURPOSE: In anesthetized patients, electro-acupuncture (EA) has been found to
reduce sevoflurane-induced suppression of cranial and spinal motor responses to
surgery without influencing the level of anesthesia. The underlying mechanisms
are unclear. In the present study, blood samples were analyzed to evaluate if the
increased clinical motor responses to surgery in patients subjected to EA under
sevoflurane anesthesia are also reflected in higher plasma levels of
catecholamines, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), or cortisol.
METHODS: Blood samples were obtained before anesthetic induction, soon after the
study or control procedures had been completed under general anesthesia, and
after 30 minutes of surgery under steady-state anesthesia with 1.8% of
sevoflurane, in 45 healthy female patients, scheduled for sterilization by
laparoscopy, randomized for bilateral 2 Hz-burst EA (study group; n = 22) or
control (control group; n = 23) procedures.
RESULT: Plasma levels of adrenaline were found to approach the higher
preanesthetic level after 30 minutes of surgery in patients given EA stimulation
but to remain low in control patients (P < 0.05)-in agreement with the stronger
clinical motor responses to skin incision in the EA group. Plasma levels of
noradrenaline, ACTH, and cortisol did not change in or differ between the two
groups.
CONCLUSION: The clinical facilitation of both cranial and spinal motor responses
to surgery in patients given acupuncture under sevoflurane anesthesia is
associated with increased plasma levels of adrenaline, possibly reflecting
sympathetic activation.
|