Objective:To evaluate the clinical value of the transcutaneous neuromodulation (TN) in improving gastrointestinal function after gastrointestinal tumor operation.Methods:From April 2019 to June 2020, at The Affiliated People′s Hospital of Ningbo University, 100 patients who underwent gastrointestinal tumor surgery were included. The 100 patients were randomly divided into treatment group(receiving TN treatment, 50 cases)and control group (receiving sham TN treatment, 50 cases). The clinical data of the two groups was compared to evaluate the recovery of gastrointestinal function, which included the time of first defecation, time of first flatus, time of first ambulation, time of resuming diet, the incidence of nausea and vomiting within 3 d after operation and pain score (0 to 10). Heart rate variability (HRV) was compared between two groups to analyze the possible mechanism of TN improving gastrointestinal function after gastrointestinal tumor surgery. Independent sample t test and Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results:Among 100 patients, there were 63 male and 37 female patients, the age was (67.0±11.3) years old, ranged from 28 to 92 years old. Compared with the control group, the time of first defecation, first flatus, first ambulation and resuming diet of treatment group reduced by 31.0%, 39.8%, 38.0% and 32.4% ((72.1±3.0) h vs.(104.5±2.9) h, (49.4±5.7) h vs.(82.1±3.1) h, (3.1±0.7) d vs.(5.0±0.9) d, (4.8±0.9) d vs. (7.1±0.8) d)), respectively; the pain scores on the day 2 and day 3 after operation and incidence of nausea and vomiting within 3 d after operation decreased by 50.0%, 65.5%, 26.0%(1.5±0.6 vs. 3.0±0.7, 1.0±0.6 vs. 2.9±0.6, 16.0%, 8/50 vs. 42.0%, 21/50), respectively, and the differences were statistically significant ( t=54.28, 35.72, 11.67, 13.66, 12.00 and 14.90, χ2=8.21, all P<0.01). The results of HRV analysis showed that the high frequency on day 3 was higher than that on day 1 of treatment group, and the ratio of low frequency to high frequency after operation was lower than that before operation of treatment group (0.5±0.1 vs. 0.4±0.1, 1.2±0.7 vs. 1.9±1.0), and the differences were statistically significant( t=-4.81 and 4.26, both P<0.01), which indicated TN could enhance vagal activity. Conclusions:TN promote the recovery of gastrointestinal function after gastrointestinal tumor operation, and can be used as an adjuvant therapy to accelerate the recovery of gastrointestinal function after gastrointestinal tumor operation.