Electroacupuncture-assisted tubeless anesthesia improved recovery after thoracoscopic surgery while reducing opioid use, complications, hospital stay, and costs.
This retrospective study compared patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery who received electroacupuncture at four specified acupuncture points combined with regional nerve blocks and tubeless anesthesia, with patients who received conventional double-lumen endotracheal intubation. Recovery quality was assessed after surgery alongside analgesic use, recovery-room duration, blood gas measures, return to eating and walking, hospital stay, costs, and postoperative complications.
Patients receiving electroacupuncture-assisted tubeless anesthesia reported better early postoperative recovery quality and recovered more quickly overall. They required less opioid medication, spent less time in the recovery unit, experienced fewer nausea, throat, and pulmonary complications, and had shorter, less costly hospital admissions, despite higher carbon dioxide levels around surgery.
