Acupuncture for Postoperative Delirium (POD): a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

Delirium is defined as a state that patient is in acute disturbance of consciousness with decreased ability to focus, maintain, or attention, accompanied by cognition change and perceptual disturbances. Postoperative delirium (POD) is a form of delirium, characterized in patients who have undergone surgical procedure and newly diagnosed with a delirium after surgical procedure and anesthesia. There is no definite mechanism how POD happens, but some possible causes are known : inflammation, neurotransmitter, chronic stress, metabolic disorders, electrolyte disorders and sleep-wake disturbance. Though incidence of POD is about 5%-15%, POD is still under-recognised among health care provider. And POD often fatal for patients. It can leads to increasing health care cost, making poor prognosis after surgery and lengthening hospital stay. Acupuncture is defined as an intervention stimulated specific points using needles with various manipulations. Acupuncture is widely used in managing pain recently but also used for mental problems like an anxiety, insomnia, anxiety, depression, dementia, cognitive impairment, and delirium. For producing sedation without complications, acupuncture could be a potential intervention for POD. There are several clinical trials that acupuncture is effective for POD. However, there is no systematic reviews of acupuncture on this condition. Therefore, the aim of this review is to draw a definitive conclusion on acupuncture for POD.