Acupuncture for open heart and skull surgery.

Asmussen, S. and M. O. Maybauer (2018). "Acupuncture for open heart and skull surgery." Deutsche Zeitschrift Fur Akupunktur 61(4): 217-220.

This article reviews the use of general anaesthesia with assisted acupuncture, which is becoming of increasing interest not only in Asia, but also in the western world. The focus is on two recent meta-analyses of 17 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing general anaesthesia with assisted acupuncture to standard general anaesthesia in cardiac and neurosurgery. Significant reduction of sedative and vasoactive drug use, ventilation time, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and tissue damage markers was discovered. Although atotal of almost 1200 patients were included in these meta-analyses, additional RCTs are necessary to further support these positive findings.