46cases of cholecystectomy were randomly divided into acupuncture combined with extradural injection of small dose of anesthetics group (group A

n=16)

acupoint skin electrical stimulation with extradural injection of small dose of anesthetics group (group B

n=14)

simple extradural injection of small dose of anesthetics group (group C

n=16). The results revealed that in group A and group B

the excellent plus good rates (class Ⅰ+Ⅱ) were 100% and 92.80% separately

while that of group C was 12.50%. The anesthesic effect of groups A and B was better than that of group C (P<0.01). The average dose of 1.5% lidocaine for extradural anesthesia per hour was reduced by 33.50% and 34.00% respectively in groups A and B compared with that of group C (P<0.01). The amount of lidocaine administered in the first hour and the total amount of lidocaine in groups A and B were reduced by about 30% compared with those of group C. These indicate that acupuncture and acupoint skin electrical stimulation combined with epidural injection of small dose of anesthetics for cholecystectomy may obviously decrease the amount of extradural anesthetics

improve the anesthetic effects and remedy the defects of incomplete analgesic effect

incomplete muscular relaxation and visceral pulling reaction under simple acupuncture anesthesia. Thus these methods meet the elementary demands of cholecystectomy. The values of plasma catecholamine were determined in 33 cases of cholecystectomy with 11 cases in each group. The plasma noradrenaline (NE)

adrenaline (E) and dopamine (DA) were detected one day before operation

during operation (30 min after anesthesia) and 3 days after operation in all the cases. Results: In groups A and B

plasma NE contents were 2.282±0.841 ng/mL and 2.341±1.566 ng/mL respectively during operation

which were lower than those of pre operation (3.853±1.476 ng/mL and 2.902±1.490 ng/mL) (P<0.01). In group A

plasma NE lowered significantly in comparison with pre operation (P<0.01). But in group C

the NE level increased slightly during operation compared with pre operation. Plasma E contents of groups A and B increased obviously during operation (P<0.01). Plasma DA of the 3 groups during operation increased in comparison with pre operation. Three days after operation

plasma NE

E and DA values were close to those of pre operation. This indicates that either acupuncture or acupoint skin electrical combined with extradural injection of small dose of anesthetics can function in regulating the activity of sympathetic nerve. The effect of acupuncture anesthesia may be mainly related to plasma NE rather than E and DA. It reveals that acupuncture and acupoint skin electrical stimulation may reduce or suppress the stress response caused by surgical operation.