Acupuncture helps in heart surgery success
Doctors used acupuncture when they anesthetized a patient before valve replacement surgery at Shanghai Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, hospital officials said on Tuesday.
Through a combination of modern western methods and traditional Chinese medicine, the patient didn’t need intubation during surgery and enjoyed a quicker recovery, they said.
The 35-year-old patient surnamed Ying started to suffer from a fever in late December that continued for 40 days despite treatment at a hospital in his hometown. He started to have shortness of breath and chest problems in late January. He traveled to Shanghai where doctors found him suffering from serious infective endocarditis, serious aortic insufficiency and left heart failure.
Dr Zhou Jia at Yueyang decided on surgery to save his life.
Experts from different departments took part in the surgery on February 18, with a combination of acupuncture and narcotics used to achieve a status of light sleep and spontaneous breathing.
Dr Zhou, the hospital’s president, said acupuncture anesthesia had been widely used in surgery at the hospital to help patients better endure surgery, suffer less trauma and potential complications of anesthesia and enjoy a quicker recovery.
After doctors completed valve replacement, Ying was able to immediately open his eyes and regain consciousness on the operating table, even nodding to express his gratitude.
He was able to drink water shortly after surgery, while he would have had to remain in a coma under routine anesthesia, doctors said.
Ying was able to eat on the next day and able to walk and go to the toilet by himself on the second day after surgery. He left intensive care on the third day and is recovering well. Doctors said he is expected to be discharged soon.
“We are adopting a theory called Enhanced Recovery After Surgery, or ERAS, for patients’ smaller trauma and quicker recovery,” Zhou said. “Acupuncture anesthesia is an important tool to help achieve ERAS. Through acupuncture anesthesia and high-end surgical technology, we can achieve more tubeless surgery, which means that we avoid or reduce the use of various tubes before, during and after surgery to reduce damage and infection risks from the tubes and enhance quicker recovery.”
Experts from different department at the hospital participated in the surgery.
Dr Zhou Jia shakes hands with patient Ying, who is recovering well after valve replacement surgery with acupuncture anesthesia.
