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This prospective, randomised, blinded, controlled clinical trial investigated whether perioperative electroacupuncture could reduce the amount of opioid pain relief required during surgery in dogs undergoing tibial tuberosity advancement — a procedure used to treat cranial cruciate ligament rupture in the knee joint.
Twenty-nine client-owned dogs were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The electroacupuncture group (fourteen dogs) received stimulation at five acupuncture points — Large Intestine 4, Stomach 36, Liver 3, Spleen 6, and Gallbladder 34 — as an adjunct to a standardised anaesthetic protocol involving methadone, dexmedetomidine, propofol, and ketamine. The control group (fifteen dogs) received the same anaesthetic protocol without electroacupuncture. Throughout surgery, the opioid fentanyl was administered in response to signs of pain, guided by a pre-designed decision flowchart, by an anaesthetist who was unaware of each dog’s group allocation.
Dogs in the electroacupuncture group required significantly less fentanyl during surgery — on average more than sixty percent less than the control group. Notably, half of the dogs receiving electroacupuncture required no fentanyl bolus dose at all, whereas every dog in the control group needed at least one bolus.
Conclusion: Perioperative electroacupuncture meaningfully reduced intraoperative opioid requirements in dogs undergoing orthopaedic surgery, suggesting it may serve as a valuable analgesic adjunct in veterinary anaesthesia practice.
Source: Stadler L, Lienert M, Kipfer N and colleagues. Veterinary anaesthesia and analgesia (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42600257) · doi:10.1016/j.vaa.2026.101288