The Effect of Electroacupuncture Preconditioning on Regional Cerebral Oxygen Saturation Levels in Elderly Patients with Diabetes

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture preconditioning on regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO₂) levels in elderly patients with diabetes.

Methods

Forty patients undergoing elective diabetic foot surgery were enrolled in this study. All patients were aged 65 years and above and weighed 45–75 kg. All were characterized as class II or III according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ physical status classification system. Patients were divided randomly into an electroacupuncture group (group E) and a control group (group C); both groups comprised 20 patients. In group E, the DU20 (Baihui), DU24 (Shenting), and EX-HN1 (Sishencong) acupoints were selected for electroacupuncture 30 min prior to administering anesthesia, while in group C, patients underwent routine anesthesia without electroacupuncture. The patients in both groups were anesthetized using a sciatic nerve block. The number of cases with increased or decreased regional oxygen saturation (rSO₂) compared with the baseline as well as rSO₂ variability in the two groups were recorded and compared.

Results

There was no significant difference in the preoperative rSO₂ values between the two groups (54.4 ± 4.8 (L), 53.9 ± 5.2 (R) [group C] vs 54.1 ± 5.2 (L), 54.5 ± 4.6 (R)[group E]). Compared with group C, the rSO₂ in group E increased (50.3 ± 3.9 [group C] vs 58.4 ± 3.2[group E]), and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Electroacupuncture stimulation can increase rSO₂ levels in patients with diabetes.

Clinical Registration Number

ChiCTR2100048783 (http://www.chictr.org.cn).

Keywords:

• electroacupuncture
• preconditioning
• regional cerebral oxygen saturation
• diabetes

Data Sharing Statement

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article. Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

This study was conducted with approval from the Ethics Committee of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2021BL02-042). This study was conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the hard and dedicated work of all the staff that implemented the intervention and evaluation components of the study.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

The current research was funded by Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Code: Z171100001017061), Chinese medicine special of the capital (Code: 17ZY04), Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Incubating Program (Code: PZ2017028), and CFH (Code: 2022-2-2232).