Evaluation of aquapuncture in the reduction of intraoperative hemorrhage in canine ovariohysterectomy.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether a presurgical aquapuncture intervention can reduce intraoperative bleeding during female dog ovariohysterectomy (OVH) procedures.

METHODS

Female dogs admitted for OVH procedure were enrolled and randomly assigned to group T (receiving vitamin B12 injections at the acupoint point GV-5), group SC (receiving vitamin B12 injections at GV-14, an acupoint without hemostatic indications), or group NC (receiving no B12 injections). Vitamin B12 injections (dose determined by weight) were given 15-30 minutes before the procedure, which was performed by a surgeon who was kept unaware of group assignments. At the conclusion of the surgery, the gauze used during the procedure was weighed immediately by an individual blinded to subject's treatment group to collect the bleeding data.

RESULTS

A total of 51 subjects were enrolled-15 in group T, 18 in group SC, and 18 in group NC. The mean (± SD) weight-normalized blood loss in group T was 0.13 ± 0.06 mL/kg, in group SC was 0.28 ± 0.16 mL/kg, and in group NC was 0.34 ± 0.22 mL/kg, which suggested that group T had significantly less weight-normalized blood loss than the 2 control groups (P = .003 and P = .003 vs NC and SC groups, respectively). The NC and SC groups were not significantly different (P = .999).

CONCLUSIONS

The study concluded that aquapuncture with B12 at GV-5 can reduce intraoperative bleeding during the female dog OVH procedure.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The proposed aquapuncture intervention has the potential to prevent bleeding complications during surgery. It could also result in faster procedures and reduced swelling, inflammation, and pain at the surgical site as well as smaller incisions.