Effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation on postoperative urinary function in elderly patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVES To observe the effect of transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (TEAS) on postoperative urinary function in elderly patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA). METHODS One hundred and eighty elderly patients undergoing unilateral THA without indwelling urinary catheters were randomly assigned to a TEAS group (90 cases, 3 cases dropped out, 4 cases were eliminated) and a sham TEAS group (90 cases, 1 case dropped out, 4 cases were eliminated). Both groups received fascia iliac block and subarachnoid block anesthesia under ultrasound guidance. The patients in the TEAS group were treated with TEAS at Zhongji (CV 3), Guanyuan (CV 4), and bilateral Huiyang (BL 35), Ciliao (BL 32) 30 minutes before anesthesia initiation, with dissperse-dense wave, frequency of 2 Hz/100 Hz, until 30 minutes after surgery. The patients in the sham TEAS group underwent the same procedure with the device applied at the same acupoints but without electrical stimulation. The incidence of postoperative urinary retention (POUR), time to first void, voiding threshold, urinary adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level, postoperative abnormal voiding status (bladder residual volume, re-catheterization rate, nocturia occurrence), and postoperative incidence of urinary tract infection (UTI) and prosthetic joint infection (PJI) were observed in both groups. RESULTS The incidence of POUR in the TEAS group was lower than that in the sham TEAS group (P<0.05); the time to first void in the TEAS group was shorter than that in the sham TEAS group (P<0.05); the voiding threshold in the TEAS group was lower than that in the sham TEAS group (P<0.05); the urinary ATP level in the TEAS group was higher than that in the sham TEAS group (P<0.05); the bladder residual volume in the TEAS group was lower than that in the sham TEAS group (P<0.05); the nocturia occurrence in the TEAS group was lower than that in the sham TEAS group (P<0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in re-catheterization rate, incidence of UTI, and incidence of PJI between the two groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS TEAS could effectively reduce the occurrence of postoperative urinary retention and improve the postoperative urinary function in elderly patients undergoing THA, which might be related with increasing the urinary ATP level.