Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Post-thoracic Surgery in a Intensive Care Unit (TENS)

May 7, 2015 updated by: Hermann Heinrich Husch, Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Post-thoracic Surgery in a Intensive Care Unit: Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Pain is an important factor of increase of morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing surgical procedures include thoracotomy. There are different methods of analgesia in postoperative thoracic surgery, ranging from systemic analgesia with opioids, as well as local anesthetics block (intrapleural, extrapleural, intercostal cryoanalgesia, etc.) in addition to spinal blocks and Epidural blocks. In the pharmacological analgesia, electroanalgesia has been proposed as an adjunctive treatment for the relief of postoperative pain. Rationale: noting the lack of data in the literature regarding the use of this physical therapy technique in order to reduce the pain in the postoperative period of thoracic surgery and its consequences, it is relevant to the realization of a new randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve (TENS) in the post - thoracic surgery on pain, pulmonary function and strength respiratory muscle. Objective: To evaluate the effects of TENS on pain, respiratory muscle strength and lung function in postoperative thoracic surgery in a Intensive Care Unit. Method: The subjects included will be randomized into three groups randomly: control group (CG) that will hold only conventional physical therapy, TENS group (EG) that will hold the application of TENS associated with conventional physical therapy, TENS placebo group (GP) who will perform the application of TENS placebo to conventional therapy. All groups carry out the assessments (digital manometer, spirometry, visual analog pain scale) in the preoperative period, postoperative Immediate / pre-intervention and at the end of treatment (discharge from the intensive care unit), except for the pain that will be evaluated before and after each intervention session. All patients receive physical therapy three times a day (morning, afternoon and evening) during hospitalization in the intensive care unit. Intervention: The conventional group will receive conventional therapy for hospital service. The TENS group will receive conventional therapy and the end of that service, will be applied TENS for 30 minutes. The placebo TENS group will receive the conventional physical therapy and the end of the service will be installed TENS placebo, during this period the patient receives electrical stimulation for 45 seconds, shutting down at the end of this time and held position as TENS group.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

An evaluation of the patient will be held in the preoperative through a standardized form containing all personal data and information regarding the history and physical examination. At this time, the patient, after reading and removal of doubts, or his guardian sign the Informed Consent making clear consent to participate. After the arrival of the surgical patient will evaluate eligibility criteria. Subjects included will be randomized into three groups randomly: control group (CG) that will hold only conventional physical therapy, TENS group (EG) that will hold the application of TENS associated with conventional physical therapy, TENS placebo group (GP) that will hold the application TENS placebo to conventional therapy. All groups carry out the assessments described below in the preoperative period, in the immediate post-operative / pre-intervention (up to 6 hours after arrival in the intensive care unit) and the end of treatment (discharge from the intensive care unit), except for the pain that will be evaluated before and after each intervention session. All patients receive physical therapy three times a day (morning, afternoon and evening) during their stay in the intensive care unit. Pain assessment: To measure the painful sensation, visual analogue scale pain will be used. Evaluation of lung function: Pulmonary function is assessed by spirometry with a portable digital spirometer Sibelmed brand, Datospir micro c model, with the objective of obtaining the lung volume and capacity. The patient is positioned in the bed (head elevated at 90º, extended legs, nasal clips in the patient (ensures optimal sealing), is positioned in the mouth patient requested a maximal inspiration followed by a maximum and sustained expiration through the mouth. During exhalation the patient will be encouraged verbally to achieve your best performance. As recommended by the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society and based on the reproducibility and eligibility criteria, three maneuvers will be performed (variability of 0.150L) and considered the best curve for study. They will be obtained the forced vital capacity values (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), FEV1 / FVC, peak expiratory flow and forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of FVC curve. The values will be recorded in absolute units of measurement and percentage of predicted. Due to the high variability between operators, this evaluation will be performed by the same researcher. Evaluation of respiratory muscle strength: To evaluate the inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength will be used, respectively, measurements of maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) and maximal expiratory pressure (MEP) through a digital manometer Globalmed make, model MVD300. The patient is positioned in the bed (headboard raised to 90 °), extended legs and a nose clip. The test is repeated 6 times with one-minute interval between each attempt, is considered the highest value since there is no difference greater than 10% between the two highest values. The MIP will be determined, based on the residual volume, the deep breath against the occluded circuit and the MEP will be obtained, starting from the total lung capacity, the expiration forced against the machine's nozzle. For analysis of the results will be considered absolute and in percentage of predicted by the equations proposed by Neder et al. Assessing the amount of medication administered: Patients from surgery can come with two types of fixed analgesia: epidural catheter or paravertebral catheter. These catheters can come up with: bupivacaine fentanyl; ropivacaine fentanyl. In addition the catheters are prescribed acetaminophen, dipyrone, tramadol, morphine. The type of fixing is controlled analgesia, dosage and dosage for each investigator assessment, furthermore all be checked to check prescriptions adjunct administered throughout the day.

Interventions TENS group: Patients randomized to this group will receive conventional physical therapy for the control group, and the end of that service, will be applied TENS. TENS is accomplished through the use of an electrical stimulation device with symmetrical biphasic current pulse. The following parameters are used: frequency: 100 Hz, pulse width: 100 µs, intensity to the greatest sensory threshold of the patient and total session time: 30 minutes. Self-adhesive electrodes will be used (Valutrode, size 5x9 cm) to be positioned in the posterolateral portion of the chest to 2 cm skin incision both upper and lower.

Placebo TENS group: Will be held the same procedure as TENS group, except that TENS will be offered to the patient only for 45 seconds, and in the first 30 seconds is reached the sensory threshold of the patient and in the last 15 seconds will turn off the electrical current by 29 remaining period minutes and 15 seconds off.

Control group: Patients randomized to this group will receive only conventional physiotherapy. The treatment protocol will consist of weathered active exercises to manually lower limbs in bed (triple flexion, abduction and adduction, plantar / dorsiflexion), free active exercises of the upper limbs in the bed (shoulder flexion, shoulder flexion and horizontal functional diagonal shoulder), bronchial hygiene techniques, flow redirection, positive expiratory pressure and ventilatory blowing patterns.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

45

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Brazil
    • Rio Grande do Sul
      • Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 90020-090
        • Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

26 years to 71 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Will be included patients between 30 and 75 years;
  • Both sexes;
  • Post-thoracic surgery with posterolateral thoracotomy incision for pulmonary resection (Bullectomy, segmentectomy, lobectomy, pneumonectomy);
  • Evaluated between 4-6 hours after entry into the intensive care unit;
  • Hemodynamic stability (mean arterial pressure between 60 mmHg and 100 mmHg, heart rate between 50 bpm and 110 bpm, peripheral saturation greater than 90%);
  • Patients who have liquid drainage chest tubes in less than 300 ml for six hours;
  • Scale agitation-sedation Richmond (RASS) between -1 and +1;
  • Prescription physical therapy;
  • Have epidural or Paravertebral catheter;
  • Agree to participate in the study by signing the Informed Consent and Informed (IC ).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not intubated with up to 6 hours in the immediate postoperative period;
  • Primary pulmonary disease not rise (cardiovascular, neurological diseases);
  • Hemodynamic instability (with pressure mean blood less than 60 mmHg or greater 100 mmHg, heart rate less than 49 bpm and greater than 111 bpm, reduced peripheral saturation of 90%);
  • Patients who have the upper drainage liquid drains to 300 ml for six hours;
  • Scale agitation-sedation Richmond (RASS) between -5 and -2, and agitated / aggressive patients, scale agitation-sedation Richmond RASS +2 and +4;
  • Prescribing physical therapy;
  • Without epidural or paravertebral catheter;
  • Patients who do not accept the study, not collaborative and do not sign the informed consent form.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Conventional physiotherapy Group
Patients randomized to this group will receive only conventional physiotherapy. The treatment protocol will consist of weathered active exercises to manually lower limbs in bed (triple flexion, abduction and adduction, plantar / dorsiflexion), free active exercises of the upper limbs in the bed (shoulder flexion, shoulder flexion and horizontal functional diagonal shoulder), bronchial hygiene techniques, flow redirection, positive expiratory pressure and ventilatory blowing patterns.
Procedure: Conventional physiotherapy Group
Patients randomized to this group will receive only conventional physiotherapy. The treatment protocol Control Group, will consist of weathered active exercises to manually lower limbs in bed (triple flexion, abduction and adduction, plantar / dorsiflexion), free active exercises of the upper limbs in the bed (shoulder flexion, shoulder flexion and horizontal functional diagonal shoulder), bronchial hygiene techniques, flow redirection, positive expiratory pressure and ventilatory blowing patterns.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo TENS Group
Will be held the same procedure as TENS group, except that TENS will be offered to the patient only for 45 seconds, and in the first 30 seconds is reached the sensory threshold of the patient and in the last 15 seconds will turn off the electrical current by 29 remaining period minutes and 15 seconds off.
Procedure: Placebo TENS group
Patients randomized to this group will receive conventional physical therapy (the treatment protocol Control Group), will be held the same procedure as TENS group, except that TENS will be offered to the patient only for 45 seconds, and in the first 30 seconds is reached the sensory threshold of the patient and in the last 15 seconds will turn off the electrical current by 29 remaining period minutes and 15 seconds off.
Experimental: TENS group
Patients randomized to this group will receive conventional physical therapy for the control group, and the end of that service, will be applied TENS. TENS is accomplished through the use of an electrical stimulation device with symmetrical biphasic current pulse. The following parameters are used: frequency: 100 Hz, pulse width: 100 µs, intensity to the greatest sensory threshold of the patient and total session time: 30 minutes. Self-adhesive electrodes will be used (Valutrode, size 5x9 cm) to be positioned in the posterolateral portion of the chest to 2 cm skin incision both upper and lower.
Procedure: TENS Group
Patients randomized to this group will receive conventional physical therapy (the treatment protocol Control Group), and the end of that service, will be applied TENS. TENS is accomplished through the use of an electrical stimulation device with symmetrical biphasic current pulse. The following parameters are used: frequency: 100 Hz, pulse width: 100 µs, intensity to the greatest sensory threshold of the patient and total session time: 30 minutes. Self-adhesive electrodes will be used (Valutrode, size 5x9 cm) to be positioned in the posterolateral portion of the chest to 2 cm skin incision both upper and lower.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Assess the pain of change in postoperative thoracic surgery
Time Frame: 3 days
It will be used a visual analogous scale to assess pain after each service physiotherapy
3 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

December 1, 2015

Study Completion (Anticipated)

June 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 3, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 5, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 8, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 12, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2015

Last Verified

December 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 36851514.6.0000.5335

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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