Benefit of Acupuncture Combined to Regional Analgesia for Post Operative Pain Relief After Hysterectomy

Since the 90\'s, the quality of the post operative pain relief is a main concern in most of the healthcare systems in the world. An efficient pain relief improves the quality of recovery after surgery \[Level 1A\], reduces the risk of persistent pain \[level 1A\] and makes the patients satisfied. Continuous regional anesthesia/analgesia promotes a level 1A in quality of postoperative pain relief, reduction in opioids consumption in opioid sparing/free analgesia programs, time to recover and the reduction of hospital stay. However in the postoperative period, breakthrough pain episodes due to mobilization or activity are not well covered by regional analgesia. Furthermore, after removal of the catheter of regional anesthesia, patients may face an unpleasant rebound pain effect. At VinMec, the technique of regional anesthesia chosen to provide regional analgesia after hysterectomy is a bilateral erector spinae plane block . Traditional Medicine relieves pain by non-pharmacological methods, especially by acupuncture which bring positive results. Acupuncture has been proven to provide pain relief according to the mechanism of traditional and modern medicine, safe for patients and with few side effects. The acupunture point formula is used by VinMec Sao Phuong Dong Traditional Medicine Center in conjunction with the department of Anesthesiology and Pain management in VinMec Times City International General Hospital to relieve pain after hysterectomy including: Three Yin Intersection (SP-6), Leg Three Miles (ST-36), Taichong (LR-3), Xuehai (SP-10). The study is to observe the effect of combining acupuncture with regional anesthesia on pain relief and postoperative recovery in patients undergoing hysterectomy. There is no published study regarding the effects of combining the 2 techniques above as multimodal approach for post operative analgesia after hysterectomy.