Acupuncture Shows Promise for Postoperative Recovery After Gastrointestinal Tumour Surgery

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Postoperative gastrointestinal dysfunction is a frequent and troublesome complication following surgery for gastrointestinal tumours, delaying recovery and reducing patients’ quality of life. This systematic review and meta-analysis, published in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, examined whether acupuncture or electroacupuncture could help restore normal gut function in these patients.

Researchers searched seven major databases up to December 2024, identifying eight randomised controlled trials involving a total of 413 patients. Pooled analysis found that acupuncture significantly reduced the time to first passage of gas (flatus), the time to first oral feeding, and overall hospital stay compared with control groups. However, no significant effect was observed on the time to first bowel movement. Regarding inflammatory markers, acupuncture significantly lowered C-reactive protein levels at three and six to seven days after surgery, and reduced white blood cell counts at six to seven days postoperatively, suggesting a potential anti-inflammatory benefit.

The overall risk of bias across included studies was rated as low to unclear, meaning the findings should be interpreted with some caution. The authors acknowledge that further large-scale, high-quality randomised controlled trials are necessary to confirm these results and to establish standardised treatment protocols before acupuncture can be more widely recommended in clinical practice.

Conclusion: Current evidence supports acupuncture as a beneficial adjunctive treatment for improving postoperative gastrointestinal recovery in tumour surgery patients, though more rigorous research is needed to validate and refine these findings.

Source: Ren SS, Hou YC, Qin SY and colleagues. Chinese journal of integrative medicine (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 41498898) · doi:10.1007/s11655-025-4149-6

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