Electroacupuncture for Postoperative Ileus After Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery

Postoperative ileus remains a significant medical problem after colorectal surgery that adversely influences patients' recovery and prolongs hospital stay. In fact, a substantial portion of the overall hospitalisation period after colorectal surgery is attributed to the time it takes for ileus to resolve. Although laparoscopic colorectal surgery has been proven to be associated with better short-term clinical outcomes including faster return of gastrointestinal function than open surgery, the duration of postoperative ileus in the laparoscopic arm is still reported to be as long as 4 days in most of the randomised trials. Additional measures are thus necessary to further enhance the gastrointestinal recovery after laparoscopic colorectal surgery in order to maximise its benefits, and acupuncture may be one of the options. Acupuncture is widely accepted in China as well as throughout the world as an effective treatment option for the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting and various functional gastrointestinal disorders. Its role in treating postoperative ileus, however, is less clear, and data from the Chinese as well as the Western literature are scarce. We therefore propose to carry out a prospective randomised sham-controlled pilot study to assess the efficacy of electroacupuncture in treating postoperative ileus after laparoscopic colorectal surgery. The acupoints relevant to the treatment of abdominal distension and constipation, including Zusanli (stomach meridian ST-36), Sanyinjiao (spleen meridian SP-6), Hegu (large intestine meridian LI-4), and Zhigou (triple energizer meridian TE-6) will be used.