RESUMEN
Hypotensive anesthesia is utilized to reduce bleeding during orthopedic surgery. One of the various drugs that have been used to reduce blood pressure is remifentanil. This study was an attempt to compare the effect of remifentanil with that of electroacupuncture (EA) at DU20 on reducing blood pressure. In this randomized controlled clinical trial, 54 patients undergoing lumbar laminectomy were allocated to two groups. Hypotensive anesthesia was performed through infusion of remifentanil 100 µg/kg/min for the control group, and EA at DU20 acupoint with a frequency of 2-10 Hz and intensity of 1-5 mA for the intervention group. Blood pressure, pulse rate, volume of blood lost and the quality of surgical field were evaluated every 10 min. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of the changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse rate, and the quality of surgical field (P > 0.05). Therefore, EA can be as effective as remifentanil to reduce blood pressure in the patients undergoing lumbar laminectomy.