NCT05537155

Buccal Acupuncture for Delirium Treatment in Older Patients Recovering From Orthopedic Surgery

Buccal Acupuncture for Delirium Treatment in Older Patients Recovering From Orthopedic Surgery: a Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: Peking University First Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years – 90 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study is designed to test the hypothesis that, for older orthopedic patients who developed postoperative delirium, combining buccal acupuncture with routine care will shorten delirium duration and relieve delirium severity.

Detailed description

Delirium is an acute, transient central nervous system dysfunction characterized by fluctuating disturbances of attention, consciousness, and cognitive function. Delirium is common in older patients following surgery. The incidence of postoperative delirium ranges from 12.0% to 23.8% in older patients; the incidence of delirium is about 10.7-17.6% in older patients after joint replacement surgery. The occurrence of delirium is associated with worse outcomes, including increased early postoperative complications, prolonged hospital-stay, and increased in-hospital mortality, as well as long-term decline in cognitive function, quality of life, and survival duration. Clinical use of acupuncture has a long history in China. Buccal acupuncture therapy is a microneedle technique and provides treatment for systemic diseases by acupuncturing specific acupoints in the cheek. Acupuncture is also used for delirium treatment. Studies of older patients who developed delirium in internal medicine wards found that, compared with routine care alone, combining routine care with acupuncture relieved delirious symptoms and severity more efficaciously. However, evidence in this aspect is limited. We suppose that, for older orthopedic patients who developed postoperative delirium, combining buccal acupuncture with routine care will shorten delirium duration and relieve delirium severity.

Conditions

• Older Patients
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Postoperative Delirium
• Acupuncture
• Treatment

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Buccal acupuncture in addition to routine care	Acupuncture will be performed at a depth of 10 mm, with the needle retaining for 20 min, in addition to routine care. Bilateral acupoints include "Tou", "Shangjing", "Jing", "Bei", and "Sanjiao". Unilateral acupoints is related to surgical sites and include "Kuan" in hip joint replacement surgery and "Xi" in knee joint replacement surgery. Patients with agitation will be treated first until agitation is controlled before acupuncture is performed.
OTHER	Routine care	Routing care includes the following: (1) remove the precipitating cause and treat the primary disease; and (2) supportive care, including reorientation and cognitive stimulation, sleep enhancement, early mobility and exercise, vision and hearing optimization, family engagement and empowerment, and early oral intake and nutrition.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-10-01
• Primary completion: 2024-01-01
• Completion: 2024-03-01
• First posted: 2022-09-13
• Last updated: 2025-07-31