Mitigation of adverse events associated with euthanasia in dogs using An-Fa (Pressing) stimulation of acupoint LIV-3 during the euthanasia procedure: a controlled, randomized and blinded study

Item

Title

Description

Am J Trad Chin Vet Med (2020), Shearer, Tamara;Huisheng Xie

Journal Publication

American Journal of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine

issn

1945-7693

Date

2020

Language

English

Author(s)

Huisheng Xie

Shearer, Tamara

Subject

Acupressure

Acupuncture Points--LV 3

Respiration

Hospice

Veterinary Acupuncture

Canine

Abstract

The objective of this randomized, blinded controlled study was to determine whether applying An-fa (pressing) acupoint stimulation at Liver-3 (LIV-3) could mitigate adverse events seen during the euthanasia process. Forty-six adult dogs presented for euthanasia were randomly divided into a control and test group. Five minutes after sedative administration, the Test Group received unilateral An-fa stimulation at LIV-3. The Control Group received no stimulation. Five adverse event parameters, each scored from 0 to 3, were measured during the euthanasia process. These included (1) cyclic respirations after euthanasia solution (CRE), (2) agonal breaths (AG), (3) twitching during the euthanasia process (TE), (4) vocalization (VC) and (5) opisthotonos (OP). The overall adverse effect score was calculated as the sum of all assessed parameters and was used for testing the study hypothesis. Study results yielded a mean adverse effect score of 1.52 for the Control Group while the Test Group had a mean score of 0.78. The test dogs experienced an approximate 51% reduction in adverse effects when compared to the Control Group. Even with this clinical trend, the difference between the control and test groups did not reach statistical significance (p=0.23) due to the large number of animals in both study groups that had no adverse effects (34.8% of control dogs, 43.5% of test dogs). This study provides encouraging results that a simple, cost-effective Tui-na procedure may be effective at alleviating side-effects at the time of death, thus providing emotional benefits to pet owners, veterinarians and staff.