Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation combined with early rehabilitation therapy on mechanically ventilated patients: a prospective randomized controlled study

• Published in: BMC pulmonary medicine 2023-07, Vol.23 (1), p.272-272, Article 272
• Main Authors: Liu, Ying, Gong, Yangyang, Zhang, Chaofan, Meng, Pingping, Gai, Yubiao, Han, Xiaoning, Yuan, Zhiyong, Xing, Jinyan, Dong, Zehua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdomen; Artificial respiration; Atrophy; Body mass index; Complications and side effects; Diaphragm; Electric Stimulation; Electrical stimuli; Electrodes; Hospitals; Humans; Intubation; Mechanical ventilation; Medical prognosis; Muscle strength; Neural stimulation; Neuromuscular electrical stimulation; Ostomy; Patient outcomes; Patients; Prevention; Prospective Studies; Pulmonology; Range of motion; Rehabilitation; Research Design; Respiration, Artificial; Respiratory failure; Risk factors; Secondary Prevention; Skeletal muscle; Therapy; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; Variation; Ventilator-associated pneumonia; Ventilators; Weaning
• ISSN: 1471-2466; 1471-2466
• DOI: 10.1186/s12890-023-02481-w

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) blended with early rehabilitation on the diaphragm and skeletal muscle in sufferers on mechanical ventilation (MV). This is a prospective randomized controlled study. Eighty patients on MV for respiratory failure were divided into a study group (40 cases) and a control group (40 cases) randomly. The study group adopted a treatment method of NMES combined with early rehabilitation and the control group adopted the method of early rehabilitation only. The diaphragmatic excursion (DE), diaphragmatic thickening fraction (DTF), variation of thickness of intercostal muscles (TIM), variation of thickness of rectus abdominis (TRA), and variation of the cross-sectional area of rectus femoris (CSA-RF) were measured to evaluate the therapeutic effect by ultrasound before and after intervention at the first day of MV, the 3rd and 7th day of intervention and the day discharged from ICU. No significant difference was found in the general demographic information and ultrasound indicators between the two groups before treatment (all P > 0.05). After treatment, the variation of DTF (0.15 ± 0.05% vs. 0.12 ± 0.04%, P = 0.034) was significantly higher in the study group than that in the control group on the day discharged from ICU. The variation of TRA (0.05 ± 0.09% vs. 0.10 ± 0.11%, P = 0.029) and variation of CSA-RF (0.13 ± 0.07% vs. 0.19 ± 0.08%, P