Unilateral electrical stimulation of the heart 7 acupuncture point to prevent emergence agitation in children: A prospective, double-blinded, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND

Emergence agitation (EA) is a frequent phenomenon in children recovering from general anaesthesia and increases the risk of self-injury. Previously, our group reported that stimulating the heart 7 (HT7) acupuncture point bilaterally using two neuromuscular transmission monitoring devices (NTMs) decreased the incidence of EA. However, bilateral stimulation is a barrier to clinical use because two NTMs are needed for one patient.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of unilateral electrical stimulation of HT7 using an NTM to prevent EA in children.

DESIGN

Prospective, double-blinded, randomized clinical trial.

SETTING

Kanagawa Children's Medical Centre, Yokohama, Japan.

PATIENTS

One hundred children (ages 18-96 months) with ASA-PS I or II, who were scheduled to undergo inguinal hernia repair or orchiopexy under sevoflurane anaesthesia.

INTERVENTION

Patients were randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: (1) HT7 group: unilateral (right side) stimulation of the HT7 acupuncture point using a single-twitch electrical stimulus (1 Hz, 50 mA) throughout the surgery, and (2) control group: electrodes alone were attached to the HT7 point on the right side; an electrical stimulus was not applied.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome was the incidence of EA evaluated using the pediatric anaesthesia emergence delirium (PAED) scale. The secondary outcomes were the incidence of EA evaluated using Aono's scale, the severity of EA, PACU stay duration, and postoperative pain.

RESULTS

There was no statistical difference between the incidence of EA in the HT7 and the control group (28.0% and 24.0%, respectively; P > 0.99). The risk ratio was 1.17 (95% confidence interval: 0.60-2.27).

CONCLUSIONS

We observed that there was no effect of unilateral single-twitch electrical stimulation to the HT7 on the incidence of EA, contrary to the findings with bilateral HT7 stimulation.