Effects of electroacupuncture on the incidence of postoperative supraventricular arrhythmia and sleep quality in patients undergoing thoracoscopic surgery: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Supraventricular arrhythmia and sleep disturbance frequently occur after thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer. The present study is designed to evaluate the hypothesis that electroacupuncture is an effective treatment of supraventricular arrhythmia and sleep disorders following thoracoscopic lung cancer surgery. Methods: Adult patients scheduled for single-port thoracoscopic lung cancer surgery were randomly assigned to the Electroacupuncture (EA) and control groups. The primary outcome of this trial was the incidence of new-onset supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) including atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia and atrioventricular junctional tachycardia during the first 24 h after surgery. Results: The authors analyzed 77 patients (EA, 38; control, 39). The incidence of new-onset SVT was significantly lower in the EA group compared with the control group during the first 24 postoperative hours; 4 (10.5%) vs. 13 (33.3%), respectively, Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that perioperative electroacupuncture treatment could be a promising strategy to reduce the incidence of new-onset SVT and improve sleep disturbance in patients undergoing thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer. This potential impact on future treatments should inspire hope and optimism in the medical community. Clinical trial registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn/indexEN.html, identifier ChiCTR2300077984.