Chen XX, Lin N, Chen YB, Zhou XH, Zhang YJ. Effects of auricular vagus nerve stimulation with press needles plus Zusanli moxibustion on patients with colorectal cancer postoperatively. World J Gastrointest Surg 2026; 18(9): 119666 [DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.119666]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ya-Jun Zhang, MM, Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Sanmen People’s Hospital, Sanmenwan Branch, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 171 Renmin Road, Haiyou Street, Sanmen 317100, Zhejiang Province, China. zhangyajun@zjsmyy.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
research-article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
Share the Article
Chen XX, Lin N, Chen YB, Zhou XH, Zhang YJ. Effects of auricular vagus nerve stimulation with press needles plus Zusanli moxibustion on patients with colorectal cancer postoperatively. World J Gastrointest Surg 2026; 18(9): 119666 [DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.119666]
World J Gastrointest Surg. Sep 27, 2026; 18(9): 119666 Published online Sep 27, 2026. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.119666
Effects of auricular vagus nerve stimulation with press needles plus Zusanli moxibustion on patients with colorectal cancer postoperatively
Xi-Xi Chen, Nan Lin, Yan-Bo Chen, Xian-Hua Zhou, Ya-Jun Zhang
Xi-Xi Chen, Nan Lin, Yan-Bo Chen, Xian-Hua Zhou, Ya-Jun Zhang, Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Sanmen People’s Hospital, Sanmenwan Branch, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Sanmen 317100, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Chen XX wrote the manuscript; Zhang YJ reviewed the manuscript; Chen XX, Lin N, Chen YB, and Zhou XH collected the data; Chen XX, Lin N, Chen YB, Zhou XH, and Zhang YJ annotated the manuscript.
AI contribution statement: We have never used AI tools in writing and editing this article.
Supported by Zhejiang Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Plan Project, No. 2025ZX060; Science and Technology Plan Project of Taizhou, No. 25ywb231; and Science and Technology Plan Project of Sanmen, No. 25218.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of Sanmen People’s Hospital, Sanmenwan Branch.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Ya-Jun Zhang, MM, Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Sanmen People’s Hospital, Sanmenwan Branch, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 171 Renmin Road, Haiyou Street, Sanmen 317100, Zhejiang Province, China. zhangyajun@zjsmyy.com
Received: April 10, 2026 Revised: May 20, 2026 Accepted: June 25, 2026 Published online: September 27, 2026 Processing time: 157 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Gastrointestinal injury is frequently observed in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) postoperatively, necessitating improved postoperative management.
AIM
To analyze the effects of auricular vagus nerve stimulation with press needles combined with moxibustion at the Zusanli acupoint on gastrointestinal function and hormones as well as serum inflammatory markers in patients with CRC postoperatively.
METHODS
A total of 105 patients with CRC who underwent surgery from April 2022 to April 2025 were selected as study participants, 50 patients treated with moxibustion at Zusanli assigned to the control group, whereas 55 patients who received auricular vagus nerve stimulation with press needles combined with moxibustion at Zusanli were included in the research group. Clinical data collected from both groups included clinical efficacy, postoperative pain assessed using the visual analog scale, gastrointestinal function (e.g., time to recovery of bowel sounds, time to first flatus, and time to first defecation), gastrointestinal hormones (e.g., gastrin and motilin), serum inflammatory markers (e.g., C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor), and quality of life assessed using the Short Form Health Survey.
RESULTS
Compared with the control group, the research group showed significantly higher total effective rate (90.91% vs 72.00%), greater postoperative pain relief, shorter time to recovery of bowel sounds, time to first flatus, and time to first defecation, higher postoperative gastrin, motilin, and Short Form Health Survey scores, and lower C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α.
CONCLUSION
Auricular vagus nerve stimulation with press needles combined with moxibustion at Zusanli significantly improved gastrointestinal function, reduced the effect of surgery on gastrointestinal hormones, and effectively inhibited serum inflammatory markers in patients with CRC postoperatively.
Core Tip: Several analyses revealed that this combined therapy significantly improved treatment efficacy, reduced pain at 12 hours and 48 hours postoperatively, and promoted gastrointestinal function recovery. It also exerted positive effects in suppressing serum inflammation and improving quality of life, providing a safe, effective, and non-invasive rehabilitation strategy integrating traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
