Electroacupuncture compound anesthesia in radiofrequency ablation for hypertrophic inferior turbinate: a randomized controlled trial

ObjectiveTo explore the feasibility of electroacupuncture compound anesthesia in radiofrequency ablation for hypertrophic inferior turbinate.MethodsThe patients confirmed to the enrolled criteria were randomly divided into an observation group (n=31) and a control group (n=30). In the observation group, electroacupuncture was applied to Sìbái ( ST 2), Xiàguān ( ST 7), Hégŭ LI 4) and Zhīgōu( TE 6) on the left side for the anesthesia and the routine local anesthesia was done on the right side. In the control group, the routine local anesthesia was adopted on both sides. The feelings of pain, circulatory index and operation effect were observed and compared between the two groups.ResultsDuring radiofrequency ablation, the pain grades of two measurements on the left side and the 2nd measurement on the right in the observation group were all lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05). In the observation group, the pain grade on the left side was lower than that on the right side (P<0.05), and the systolic blood pressure and the heart rate were lower than those in the control group when undergoing the 2nd radiofrequency ablation on the right side and on the left side, respectively (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in operation effect between the two groups.ConclusionElectroacupuncture compound anesthesia can meet the analgesia requirement of radiofrequency ablation for hypertrophic inferior turbinate, and would be helpful to prevent cyclic fluctuation during the operation at the same time.