{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T04:26:48Z","timestamp":1772166408603,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,1]],"date-time":"2019-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1575158400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,11]],"date-time":"2019-12-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1576022400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":10,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Professional College of Physiotherapists of Catalonia","award":["R03\/16"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R03\/16"]}]},{"name":"Socientat Cient\u00edfica d'acupuntura de Catalunya i les Balears","award":["2016"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2016"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Trials"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is a major cause of hospital admissions and dyspnoea is its main symptom. Some studies have concluded that a new modality of acupuncture, called acupoint transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (acuTENS), could reduce dyspnoea in patients with COPD by increasing \u03b2-endorphin levels. However, those trials have been conducted mainly on patients in stable condition. This study aims to determine whether the administration of acuTENS can reduce dyspnoea in patients hospitalized for AECOPD.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A multicentre randomized control trial with blinding of participants and assessors will be conducted. A sample of 60 patients will be randomly assigned to receive 45\u2009min of either real acuTENS or sham acuTENS treatment once a day for five consecutive days. The trial will be conducted at the \u201cHospital del Mar\u201d in Barcelona (Spain) and the \u201cHospital Sant Joan de D\u00e9u de Manresa\u201d in Manresa (Spain). The Borg scale at baseline and days 1 to 5 will be the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes will be the duration of the hospitalization, quantity of drugs administrated, expiratory peak flow adverse effects and mortality and readmissions at 3\u2009months.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>AcuTENS is a non-pharmacological, non-invasive and inexpensive intervention. This trial will help to elucidate the potential role of acuTENS in the treatment of AECOPD.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:\n                      <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"uri\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/clinicaltrials.gov\/ct2\/show\/study\/NCT02998957\">NCT02998957<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      . Recruitment status: Recruiting. First posted: 21 December 2016. Last update posted: 2 October 2018. Trial registration dataset is available in Additional file 1. Protocol version 03. Issue date: 20 March 2018. Author: Carles Fern\u00e1ndez.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13063-019-3757-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,11]],"date-time":"2019-12-11T08:05:53Z","timestamp":1576051553000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Acupoint transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in hospitalized COPD patients with severe dyspnoea: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0317-0967","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carles","family":"Fern\u00e1ndez-Jan\u00e9","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jordi","family":"Vilar\u00f3","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"3757_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"347","DOI":"10.1164\/rccm.201204-0596PP","volume":"187","author":"J Vestbo","year":"2013","unstructured":"Vestbo J, Hurd SS, Agusti AG, Jones PW, Vogelmeier C, Anzueto A, et al. 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All protocol modifications will be informed to all lead investigators and reported in the final manuscript. All patients will be informed about the nature of the study, its objective, and the possible adverse effects of the treatments as well as their voluntary participation. All patients must sign an informed consent form. The patients will be able to leave the study whenever they want without any detriment to their health care. The data collected during the study will be treated in accordance with the LOPD, Regulation (EU) n\u00b02016 \/ 679 of the European Parliament and European Council on data protection (RGPD) that came into force on 25 May 2018. Data monitoring is not needed as the treatment used is expected to have a low safety risk. For the same reason, no interim analysis or stopping guidelines or post-trial care and compensations are considered. No additional insurance was needed for this trial since the TENS device is regularly used in the rehabilitation department. Results of the trial will be disseminated via publication. Authorship eligibility will be considered in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors criteria. A professional writer will be used to review the final manuscript.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare that they have no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"707"}}