From pioneering to innovation: A comprehensive review of acupuncture anesthesia in cardiothoracic surgeries.

The evolution of acupuncture anesthesia (AA) has spanned six decades. Cardiothoracic surgery serves as a representative case study to illustrate this evolution. Reflecting on its historical development, the use of AA in cardiothoracic surgery has advanced from basic AA procedures in the 1960s to combined acupuncture and drug anesthesia techniques in the early 1980s.

[Modern acupuncture anesthesia and its clinical practice].

Acupuncture anesthesia is an innovative anesthesia technique which combines acupuncture therapy of traditional Chinese medicine with western anesthesia and surgery. Modern acupuncture anesthesia technology involves comprehensive preoperative evaluation and application, intraoperative assistance in anesthesia, and enhanced recovery after surgery, forming a set of perioperative management models with Chinese characteristics. In the present paper, we comprehensively summarized the application scenarios (including craniocerebral operations, neck surgery, cardiac and thoracic surgery, abdominal operation, obstetrical and gynecological operations, anorectal operation, and orthopedic operation) and values (such as analgesia, reduction in nausea and vomiting, accelerating recovery of gastrointestinal function, regulating immune function, etc.

[Progress of the application research of modern acupuncture anesthesia in perioperative period of thoracic surgery].

Modern acupuncture anesthesia is the application of acupuncture-related therapies to optimize the perioperative management which is based on the combined acupuncture-medicine anesthesia technology, and building a perioperative acupuncture anesthesia accelerated rehabilitation system. Based on the thoracic surgery, this paper analyzes and summarizes the application effects of modern acupuncture anesthesia, focusing on preoperative anxiety relief and advanced analgesia； reduce the dosage of anesthetics, stable respiration and hemodynamics, anti-stress and organ protection during surgery； postoperative analgesia, prevention of nausea, vomiting and cognitive impairment, improvement of gastrointestinal function, prevention of cognitive impairment, and enhancement of immunity. It is anticipated that this review may provide a basis for the further promotion and application of modern acupuncture anesthesia in clinical practice.