Prevention of propofol injection-related pain using pretreatment transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation

ABSTRACT

Background/aim: This study aimed to study the effect of pretreatment transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) in preventing propofol injection-related pain. Materials and methods: A total of 360 patients who were to undergo elective hysteroscopy surgery were randomly divided into the following three groups of 120 patients each control (Group C), sham TEAS (Group F), and TEAS (Group T). Patients in Group C did not undergo any treatment before surgery; 30 min before the induction of anesthesia, patients in Groups F and T underwent electrical stimulation of the bilateral LI4-PC6 acupoint. Patients in Group F were subjected to 'feeling flow', while those in Group T were subjected to 'tolerance flow.' The stimulation frequency was 2/100 Hz and the duration of stimulation was 30 min. After the induction of anesthesia, propofol injection-related pain scores, hemodynamic parameters, and adverse reactions were recorded. Results: Of the 360 patients, 324 completed the study. There were significant differences among the groups in terms of the incidence of moderate-to-severe pain. In terms of the four-point scaling method, the end of the radial vein, the cubital vein, and the 'back of the hand' vein differed significantly among the three groups (P = 0.05). Finally, using a numerical rating scale, a significant difference was observed among the three groups in terms of the pain scores in the different veins. Conclusions: Pretreatment TEAS effectively reduces the incidence and severity of propofol injection-related pain, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, and patient postoperative pain scores.