TEAS May Reduce Hypothermia Risk During Elective Thoracic Surgery

This randomized controlled trial looked at adults scheduled for elective video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery under general anesthesia. The researchers tested whether transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation could prevent perioperative hypothermia. Participants received stimulation at predefined acupoints starting 30 minutes before anesthesia induction and continuing until the end of surgery. The control group received sham stimulation. The primary outcome measured was the incidence of perioperative hypothermia, defined as a core temperature drop. The study followed patients until the end of surgery to see if the treatment made a difference. No adverse events, serious adverse events, discontinuations, or tolerability issues were reported in the available data. The main reason to be careful is that evidence from randomized controlled trials on this specific topic remains limited. Readers should understand that while the results are promising, more research is needed before this becomes a standard recommendation for all patients undergoing this type of surgery.