Transcutaneous Acupoint Electrical Stimulation Promotes Gastrointestinal Dysfunction In Critically Ill Patients:a Clinical Study

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation on gastrointestinal function and severity of critically ill patients.MethodsSelf-contrast method was used in this study.30 Critically ill patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction were recruited from Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from December 2017 to January 2019.TEAS intervention program:Zusanli(ST 36)and Sanyinjiao(SP 6)of both lower extremities were selected as the stimulation points.Parameters:intermittent wave,25Hz of frequency,15mA of current intensity,1 hour of stimulation time,once a day for 7 consecutive days.Evaluation index:Acute gastrointestinal injury(AGI)grading,acute physiology and chronic health evaluation scoring system(APACHE Ⅱ),sequential organ failure assessment(SOFA),multiple organ dysfunction syndrome(MODS)score were recorded before the study was began and after the treatment on day 1,day 3,and day 7.Electrogastrogram(EGG)was performed respectively for 30 minutes before,during and after the treatment on day 1,day 3,and day 7.Results1.Gastrointestinal function index:1.1 After 7 days of continuous treatment,secondary AGI patients reduced compared with that before treatment(P<0.05).1.2 On the first channel of the electrogastrogram,after 7 days of treatment,the proportion of gastric electrical slowness decreased compared with that before treatment,and the proportion of gastric electrical over-speed increased compared with that before treatment;After 3 days of treatment and 7 days after treatment,the rate of gastric electrical rhythm disorder decreased compared with that before treatment(P<0.05).On the second channel,after 3 days of treatment,the proportion of gastric electrical slowness increased compared with that before treatment.After 7 days of treatment,the proportion of normal gastric electrophysiology decreased compared with that before treatment,and the proportion of gastric electrical over-speed increased before treatment,and the frequency of gastric electrical rhythm disorder decreased after 7 days of treatment compared with that after the first day of treatment(P<0.05).On the third channel,the proportion of normal gastric electrophysiology increased after 7 days of treatment compared with that after 3 days of treatment;After 7 days of treatment,the proportion of gastric electrical slowness decreased compared with that before treatment,it was also statistically significant compared with that after 3 days of treatment;The proportion of gastric electrical over-speed increased compared with that before treatment,and the main frequency was higher compared with that before treatment(P<0.05).On the fourth channel,After 3 days of treatment,the proportion of gastric electrical slowness increased compared with that after 1 day of treatment.After 1 day of treatment,the frequency of gastric electrical rhythm disorder was lower than that before treatment(P<0.05),but there was no significant difference compared with that after 3 days or 7 days of treatment(P>0.05).2.Disease severity index:After 7 days of continuous treatment,APACHE Ⅱ score decreased compared with before treatment(P<0.05);SOFA score increased on the 3rd and 7th day after treatment(P<0.05);For MODS,there was no statistical significance before and after treatment(P>0.05).ConclusionTEAS stimulates Zusanli and Sanyinjiao can regulate the gastric electrical rhythm of critically ill patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction,increase the proportion of normal gastric electrophysiology,reduce the frequency of gastric electrical rhythm disorder,promote gastric emptying,and thus improve gastrointestinal symptoms,and improve the severity of the patients.