A Severance Hospital research team has found that applying intra-muscular electrical stimulation on patients who underwent pancreatic duodenal resection operation reduced their pain and recovery time.

The researchers performed the so-called needle twitch obtaining intramuscular stimulation (NETOIMS) after surgery on 21 of 44 patients and compared the result with the other 23 patients of the control group.

Severance Hospital’s research team, led by Professor Park Jun-seong, confirmed that intra-muscular electrical stimulation helps reduce pain and recovery time of the function after surgery. (Severance Hospital)

The results showed that on the day of surgery, the group treated with NETOIMS scored an average pain score of 5.5 while the control group recorded 6.45. Three days after the operation, the pain score of the NETOIMS group dropped to 3.22, and that of the control group fell to 4.05, showing a lower average rating in the treated group.

Also, the time required for the pain score to drop down to 2 was 12.4 days in the NETOIMS group and 15 days in the control group. The group that received electrical stimulation recovered 2.6 days earlier than the control group.

The study, which was conducted up to 28 days after surgery, showed that the NETOIMS group showed lower pain scores than the control group during hospitalization and after discharge.

NETOIMS also confirmed to have shortened the postoperative recovery period of the function. The average walking speed of the NETOIMS group took 20.7 days to recover up to the preoperative level. In comparison, the control group was expected to take 29 days beyond the investigation period of 28 days.

"The causes of the pain in the surgical site are visceral and somatic pain resulting from muscle damage. We have confirmed that NETOIMS is effective for these muscle pain," Professor Park Jun-seong said.

The findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

shim531@docdocdoc.co.kr

<© Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>