Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation for Postoperative Urinary Retention After Radical Surgery for Cervical Cancer

Lu Chao

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Postoperative Urinary Retention (POUR)

Treatments: Other: Sham transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation; Other: transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07235371

IRB-2025-1262

Details and patient eligibility

About

This is a prospective, blinded, single-center, randomized controlled trial. We will include 76 patients with postoperative urinary retention (POUR) after radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer who have a clear diagnosis and meet the screening criteria as the research object. They will be randomly divided into the transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation（TEAS）group and the sham TEAS group according to a 1:1 ratio. Each group consists of 38 patients, and all patients will be required to sign a written informed consent form. The TEAS group will be treated with TEAS based on conventional treatment, and the sham TEAS group will be treated with shamTEAS based on conventional treatment. The main outcomes will be the changes in post-void residual (PVR) volume; secondary indicators will include the response rate of participants with successful urinary catheter removal after intervention, assessment of urinary tract infection (UTI), and patient quality of life assessment according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 scale. The participants will also be evaluated with expectations, blind evaluation, compliance evaluation, and safety evaluation to preliminarily evaluate the effect of TEAS for postoperative urinary retention after radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer.

Enrollment: 76 estimated patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 70 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• (1) Age range of 18-70 years, expected survival period ≥ 6 months; (2) Meets diagnostic criteria, with an indwelling catheter duration of more than 14 days but less than 1 year; (3) No history of urinary system diseases before surgery; (4) Clear consciousness, unobstructed communication, daily living ability, patients or family members can learn TEAS operation; (5) No serious systemic diseases such as heart, liver, brain, kidney, etc; (6) Karnofsky functional status score (KPS) ≥ 70 points; (7) Voluntarily participate and sign a written informed consent form.

Exclusion criteria

• (1) Obstructive urinary retention, such as urethral stricture or stones; (2) combined with other serious systemic diseases, advanced cachexia; (3) Patients with pacemaker implantation or metal implantation in the body; (4) The treatment site has skin lesions or is not suitable for TEAS treatment in other populations; (5) Physical or mental disorders with cognitive impairment; (6) Other clinical trial participants who are currently involved in affecting the results of this study; (7) Those who do not agree to participate in clinical trials; (8) The evaluator has determined that the participant is not suitable to participate in this study.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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76 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

The TEAS Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive TEAS treatment once a day for two consecutive weeks. TEAS stimulation: A set of TEAS patch stimulation will be applied to BL32 and BL34 points on both sides of the spine respectively, with an intensity of approximately 30 ± 5mA, based on patient tolerance. The frequency will be 2/10Hz.

Treatment:

Other: transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation

The Sham TEAS Group

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Participants will receive sham TEAS treatment once a day for two consecutive weeks. The operation of the sham TEA group will be consistent with that of the TEAS group, with a current intensity set to 30mA. However, the instrument circuit of the fake TEAS group cannot output current normally, and participants can only feel patches stimulating at the BL32 and BL34 acupoints.

Treatment:

Other: Sham transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation