A study on effect and safety of transcutaneous electrical stimulation at Zusanli acupoint for gastrointestinal poison elimination in patients with oral organophosphorus pesticide poisoning / 中国中西医结合急救杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effect and safety of transcutaneous electrical stimulation at Zusanli acupoint for elimination of gastrointestinal poison in patients with oral organophosphorus pesticide poisoning. Methods A prospective study was conducted, including 62 patients with oral organophosphorus pesticide poisoning from September 2013 to February 2015 in the Department of Emergency of Xingtai People's Hospital of Hebei Province. The patients were divided into a observation group and a control group (each, 31 cases) in accord with the principle of simple random sampling. All the patients in two groups were given comprehensive treatment according to the diagnosis and treatment of the guide for organic phosphorus pesticide poisoning. In addition, the transcutaneous electrical stimulation at bilateral Zusanli acupoints was carried out in the observation group, once therapeutic time 30 minutes and every 8 hours once, and stopped until the discharge of melena. The incidence of vomiting after application of cathartics, the first stool time, the time of melena discharge, daily defecation frequency, the time of reaching atropinization, the total amount of atropine used, the time of cholinesterase (ChE) activity returning to its 1/2 normal activity, the length of stay in hospital, cure rate and mortality were observed in both groups. The changes in hemodynamics and pulse blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) were observed before and after transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation, and the occurrence of adverse reactions in the therapeutic course were observed in the observation group.Results After application of cathartics, the incidence of vomiting in control group was significantly higher than that in the observation group [32.2% (10/31) vs. 9.7% (3/31),P < 0.05]. In the observation group, the first stool time (hours 9.3±3.6 vs. 11.6±5.2) and the time of melena discharge (hours 11.3±5.3 vs. 14.5±6.8) were significantly shorter than those in the control group (both P < 0.05); while the frequency of bowel movements during catharsis was higher than that of the control group (times/d 4.3±0.5 vs. 3.1±0.4,P < 0.01). In the observation group, the time reaching atropinization (hours 66.3±22.8 vs. 84.6±24.2), the total amount of atropine used (mg 66.3±22.8 vs. 84.6±24.2), and the time of ChE activity returning to its 1/2 normal range (days 6.1±2.4 vs. 8.3±3.9) were significantly shorter than those in the control group (allP < 0.01). At the end of treatment, the average length of stay in hospital was shorter (days 11.3±2.8 vs. 13.4±4.2,P < 0.05) and the cure rate was higher [96.8% (30/31) vs. 83.9% (26/31),P < 0.05] in the observation group than those in the control group; in observation group, the hemodynamics and SpO2 before and after acupoint electrical stimulation did not change significantly; in the course of treatment, no adverse reactions occurred.Conclusion The addition of transcutaneous electric stimulation at bilateral Zusanli acupoints in patients with oral organophosphorus pesticide poisoning has following advantages lowering the incidence of vomiting during catharsis, enhancing the cathartic effect, promoting gastrointestinal poisoning discharge as soon as possible, reducing total atropine used during hospitalization, shortening the time reaching atropinization, shortening the duration of hospitalization, promoting the recovery of cholinesterase activity and elevating clinical therapeutic effects.