Acupuncture in Emergency Delirium After Tonsillectomy

Acupuncture Management of Emergence Agitation in Children Undergoing Tonsillectomy: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Emergence delirium (ED) (also called emergence agitation) can be defined as a "dissociated state of consciousness in which the child is irritable, uncompromising, uncooperative, incoherent and inconsolable crying, moaning, kicking or thrashing".

Tonsillectomy (with or without adenoidectomy) is a routinely performed operation. Emergence agitation is a frequent phenomenon in children recovering from general anesthesia for tonsillectomy, and increases risk of self-injury. It's not unusual for the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) staff look that a child, who was asleep just minutes before, starts screaming, pulling out his intravenous line, looks like he's about to fall out of his bed. This condition requires sedatives that may cause undesirable side effects. The cause of emergence delirium and the mechanism of agitation following general anesthesia is unknown. Probably the volatile agents work on some pathways, possibly in the locus coeruleus or amygdala, in the setting of a specific neurodevelopmental stage of the brain.

While emergence delirium can be seen into adulthood, its peak incidence is in younger children (2-7 years of age). The incidence of ED is unclear: anywhere from 2-80%, but when confounders like pain, nausea etc. are controlled, the incidence is probably around 20-30%.

Limited data suggest that acupuncture may be a safe, nonpharmacological treatment for the reduction of pain and agitation in term and preterm infants and that may be an alternative method for preventing ED. In particular a prospective, randomized, double-bind controlled study demonstrated a reduction of the ED in many surgeries, after the electrical stimulation of the heart 7 acupuncture site.

Nearly 400 acupuncture points are known on the body surface and they belong to 14 meridians, running along the human body. After the needle peeling, the nervous free terminations release some polypeptid (the most important is the substantia P) and it increases the excitability of the near nervous free terminations which cause vasodilatation. It has a myorelaxant effect, decreases the level for pain tolerance and make stronger the inhibitor effect of descendent fibers, with production of endogenous endorphins. This is the reason why acupuncture is considered valid in prevention and control of ED.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Emergence Delirium
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Acupuncture

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Silvia Tisato, MD; Phone Number: 00390403785111; Email: silvia.tisato@burlo.trieste.it
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Silvia Tisato, MD; Phone Number: 00390403785111; Email: siliva.tisato@burlo.trieste.it

Study Locations

• Italy
  • Trieste, Italy, 34137
    • Institute for Maternal and Child Health - IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo"

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 12 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion criteria

1. Children scheduled to undergo tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy
2. American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) physical status I or II

Exclusion criteria

1. Coagulation disorders (pro-hemorrhagic status)
2. Neurological disorders (development delay)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Acupuncture; The acupuncture will be applied at points LI4, ST36, HT7, in association with auriculotherapy point Master Cerebral, immediately after induction of anesthesia for 20 minutes	Procedure: Acupuncture; Application of acupuncture
No Intervention: Standard care group; The patients will follow the standard procedure

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Postoperative agitation evaluated with the PAED scale	Between groups difference in postoperative agitation assessed by the health personnel with the Pediatric Anesthesia Emergence Delirium (PAED) scale. PAED consists of 5 psychometric items describing emergence behavior, with score ranging from 0 to 20. The severity of ED increases with a higher score. Scores ≥10 indicate the presence of ED.	Within 5 minutes from arrival in the post anesthesia care unit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Postoperative agitation evaluated with the PAED scale	Between groups difference in postoperative agitation assessed by the health personnel with PAED scale. PAED consists of 5 psychometric items describing emergence behavior, with score ranging from 0 to 20. The severity of ED increases with a higher score. Scores ≥10 indicate the presence of ED.	30 minutes after the arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Postoperative agitation evaluated with the Watcha Scale	Between groups difference in postoperative agitation assessed with the Watcha Scale. The Watcha scale is a 4 points scale, describing the behaviour of the patient; a score >2 indicates emergence delirium.	Within 5 minutes from arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Postoperative agitation evaluated with the Cravero scale	Between groups difference in postoperative agitation assessed with the Cravero emergence agitation scale, consisting of five steps from obtunded and unresponsive to wild thrashing behaviour requiring restraint. A score of 4 (from crying and difficult to console to wild thrashing) for 5 or more minutes is indicative of emergency delirium.	Within 5 minutes from arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Postoperative agitation evaluated with the Watcha Scale	Between groups difference in postoperative agitation assessed with the Watcha Scale. The Watcha scale is a 4 points scale, describing the behaviour of the patient; a score >2 indicates emergence delirium.	30 minutes after the arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Postoperative agitation evaluated with the Cravero scale	Between groups difference in postoperative agitation assessed with the Cravero emergence agitation scale, consisting of five steps from obtunded and unresponsive to wild thrashing behaviour requiring restraint. A score of 4 (from crying and difficult to console to wild thrashing) for 5 or more minutes is indicative of emergency delirium.	30 minutes after the arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Pain evaluated with the FLACC scale	Between groups difference in pain, evaluated using the Faces, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability (FLACC) scale administered by the health personnel. The FLACC tool assesses changes in five categories of behavior (namely: Face, legs, Activity, Crying and Consolability), rating each one on a scale of 0-2. Ten is the maximum score indicating severe pain and a score <2 generally indicates absence of pain. A FLACC score higher than 4 is considered as indicator of moderate pain.	Within 5 minutes from arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Pain evaluated with the FLACC scale	Between groups difference in pain, evaluated using the FLACC scale administered by the health personnel. The FLACC tool assesses changes in five categories of behavior (namely: Face, legs, Activity, Crying and Consolability), rating each one on a scale of 0-2. Ten is the maximum score indicating severe pain and a score <2 generally indicates absence of pain. A FLACC score higher than 4 is considered as indicator of moderate pain.	30 minutes after the arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Unintended harm caused by patients agitation	Between groups difference in harming surgical repair, harming self or caregivers, pulling out IV's draws or tubes	Within 5 minutes from arrival in the post anesthesia care unit
Unintended harm caused by patients agitation	Between groups difference in harming surgical repair, harming self or caregivers, pulling out IV's draws or tubes	30 minutes after the arrival in the post anesthesia care unit

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: IRCCS Burlo Garofolo
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Silvia Tisato, MD, Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 15, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 15, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): January 15, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 30, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 31, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): January 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): January 17, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 15, 2024
• Last Verified: January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Acupuncture; Tonsillectomy; Emergency Delirium
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Nervous System Diseases; Postoperative Complications; Neurologic Manifestations; Confusion; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurocognitive Disorders; Delirium; Emergence Delirium
• Other Study ID Numbers: RC 33/2020

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No