Ear zap during heart surgery may ward off Post-Op delirium

NCT ID NCT07476742

First seen Mar 20, 2026 · Last updated Jun 20, 2026 · Updated 15 times

Summary

This study tests a device that gently stimulates a nerve in the ear during heart surgery. The goal is to see if it lowers the chance of postoperative delirium, anxiety, and depression. About 270 adults having elective heart surgery will be randomly assigned to receive real or sham stimulation. Neither the patients nor the doctors will know who gets which treatment.

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This is a summary of the original study . Summaries may miss details or leave out important information. Before applying or accepting participation, make sure you have read and understood the full study. Curemydisease.com takes no responsibility whatsoever for anything missed, misunderstood, or acted upon as a result of our summary — we know it does not capture everything.

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Contacts and locations

Locations

  • First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.

    Beijing, China

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only — not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance

transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) device

What this could lead to

If it works, this could offer a simple, non-drug way to prevent confusion and mood problems after heart surgery.

What could go wrong

This is an early-stage trial with no phase, so results are uncertain. The effect may be small or no better than sham stimulation.

Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

anxiety disorder Depression Emergence Delirium

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.