Acupuncture for Prevention of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV)

April 30, 2021 updated by: Alirıza Erdoğan, Nigde Omer Halisdemir University

The Comparison of P6+ST36 Combination Acupuncture Therapy With P6 Alone Acupuncture and Standard Treatment in Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting

The aim of this study is to compare the single point stimulation (P6) and double point stimulation (P6+ST36) performed before anesthesia induction with standard treatment in terms of PONV development and postoperative anti-emetic requirement in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is encountered in 20-30% of patients undergoing surgery. PONV is a costly medical condition in financial and emotional aspects by causing serious complications like elongation of hospital stay, postoperative bleeding, aspiration pneumonia and electrolyte imbalances. In high risk individuals and operations, it can be encountered in up to 80% of patients. The risk factors for PONV development in adults are female gender, previous PONV and/or motion sickness, non-smoking and younger age. Additionally, it has been reported that some surgery types, especially, laparoscopic cholecystectomy and gynecologic surgeries along with the anesthetic agent, the duration of anesthesia and postoperative opioid use also have direct effects on PONV development.

According to the 4th consensus guidelines for the management of PONV updated in 2020, in patients with one or more risk factors, a multimodal prophylaxis using a combination of at least 2 of the following methods; 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, corticosteroids, anti-histaminics, dopamine antagonists, propofol anesthesia, NK-1 receptor antagonists, anti-cholinergics and acupuncture.

Following the declaration of acupuncture as an effective treatment option for PONV in 1999 NIH Consensus Conference, studies about this topic gained speed and many high quality randomized controlled clinic studies were performed. In one of the most comprehensive reviews published in 2015, it is stated that stimulation of P6 acupuncture point remarkably reduce the risk of PONV development, significantly decrease the amount of postoperative anti-emetic requirement, provide similar PONV prophylaxis with different pharmacoprophylactic agents (metoclopramide, cyclizine, prochlorperazine, droperidol, ondansetron and dexamethasone) and have similar post-operative anti-emetic requirement with pharmacologic agents. In the same Cochrane analysis, it is clearly stated that studies enrolling groups of sham acupuncture for P6 are redundant and would not go any further than duplicating the available well-established information. In this aspect, the proposed study design is comparison between treatment groups.

PONV has a multifactorial ethology. It has been postulated that it occurs as a result of activation of emetic center in the brain stem by stimulation of various peripheral receptors as well as central receptors including the chemoreceptor trigger zone in the postrema region. Following activation, the response of emetic center for anti-emetic agents is rather weak and consequently this complicates PONV treatment. Acupuncture is a kind of periphery sensory stimulus and has modulatory effects on the emetic center in the brain stem via neuronal pathways. This neural modulation is thought to be the result of communication between cerebellum and insula. As a result of these mechanisms of action, performing acupuncture before the induction of anesthesia provides more effective PONV prophylaxis.

Pharmacologic anti-emetic agents increase treatment costs as well as bear some adverse effects. The clinical condition created by PONV and increasing dissatisfaction due to the adverse effects of the pharmacologic agents urge both patients and clinicians pursuing non-pharmacologic modalities with proven efficiency, like acupuncture.

Therefore, it is essential to develop a standard, simple, effective prophylaxis protocol with high patient compliance and without ad verse effects, especially in patients with high risk for PONV. In the literature various different technique and materials were used for acupuncture stimulation. Unfortunately, a standard is not present for the metal of the needle, the length of the needle, the depth of immersion, the technique of stimulation and in most of the studies these features are not specified at all. Meanwhile, although P6 is the most studied point for PONV, there are encouraging evidence that some other points, like ST36 or LI4, might be incorporated into the PONV protocol. ST36 have potential effects in balancing gastrointestinal motility by modulating gastric motility via vagovagal and sympathetic reflex arches. Moreover, P6 in combination with ST36 has been successful in treatment of hiccups, recently.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

105

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Turkey
      • Niğde, Turkey
        • Recruiting
        • Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Training and Research Hospital
        • Contact:

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

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Women between 18-65 years old, who have ASA scores of I-II-III and who are planned to undergo elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant women
  • Lactating women
  • Women with steel hypersensitivity
  • Mental retarded patients
  • Patients with psychological disorders and neurologic sequel
  • Additionally, patients who;
  • have nausea/vomiting, consume anti-emetic or emetogenic drugs, alcohol, opioid drugs, glucocorticoid drug and have acupuncture treatment for any reason 72 hours prior to surgery
  • have skin reactions at the site of acupuncture application
  • had intraoperative gangrenous cholecystitis, gall bladder perforation, malignant pathological outcome
  • were admitted to intensive care unite
  • had to convert to open surgery will be excluded.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Standard Treatment
Following 8 hours fasting, standard anesthesia protocol, 3 mg kg-1 Propofol, 0.6 mg kg-1 rocuronium and 2 µg kg-1 fentanyl will be administered. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy will be performed. Twenty minutes prior to the completion of the operation tramadol 100mg will be administered for analgesia.
Active Comparator: Single point (P6) Acupuncture

Prior to the anesthesia induction, the same certified medical doctor will perform a standard acupuncture protocol to the P6 point bilaterally. For P6 acupuncture stimulation 0,25x25mm steel needles will be immersed for 2cm. For stimulation, the needles will be turned clock-wise 3 times. This stimulation will be repeated for 3 times with 10 seconds intervals. The needles will be held in place for 20 minutes and will be removed afterwards.

Following 8 hours fasting, standard anesthesia protocol, 3 mg kg-1 Propofol, 0.6 mg kg-1 rocuronium and 2 µg kg-1 fentanyl will be administered. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy will be performed. Twenty minutes prior to the completion of the operation tramadol 100mg will be administered for analgesia.
Procedure: Acupuncture
A standardized acupuncture protocol will be administered
Experimental: Double point (P6+ST36) Acupuncture
Prior to the anesthesia induction, the same certified medical doctor will perform a standard acupuncture protocol both to the P6 and ST36 points bilaterally. For P6 acupuncture stimulation 0,25x25mm steel needles will be immersed for 2cm. For ST6 acupuncture stimulation 0,25x50mm steel needles will be immersed for 5cm. For stimulation, the needles will be turned clock-wise 3 times. This stimulation will be repeated for 3 times with 10 seconds intervals. The needles will be held in place for 20 minutes and will be removed afterwards. Following 8 hours fasting, standard anesthesia protocol, 3 mg kg-1 Propofol, 0.6 mg kg-1 rocuronium and 2 µg kg-1 fentanyl will be administered. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy will be performed. Twenty minutes prior to the completion of the operation tramadol 100mg will be administered for analgesia.
Procedure: Acupuncture
A standardized acupuncture protocol will be administered

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PONV prophylaxis
Time Frame: 12 months
The frequency of PONV development
12 months
Postoperative anti-emetic requirement
Time Frame: 12 months
The amount of anti-emetic agent administered postoperatively
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Nigde Omer Halisdemir University

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

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 (Actual)

May 1, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2022

Study Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 26, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 26, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

April 29, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 3, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2021

Last Verified

April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 14.04.2021/28

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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