The Role Of Acupuncture And Medical Therapy In The Treatment Of Acute And Subacute Phase Of Cerebral Infarction Clinical Study

Objective: The effectiveness of Acupuncture in right handed patientscomplaining of right hemiparesis and right handed patients complaining of lefthemiparesis in acute and subacute phase of cerebral infarction remain largelyuntested and unproven. The aim of this study is to investigate whetherAcupuncture treatment has an additional effect to medical treatment andphysiotherapy (passive and active movement) in cerebral infarction and toinvestigate whether acupuncture treatment in acute phase cerebral infarction(started1-3 days post stroke onset) is more effective than acupuncture insubacute phase cerebral infarction (started 8 days post stroke onset). Also toinvestigate whether the side of hemisphere lesion could affect the result ofthis clinical trial.Methods: In this study 126 patients suffering from cerebral infarctionwere divided into three groups. Two of them are Acupuncture groups (acutecerebral infarction group and subacute cerebral infarction group): receivingacupuncture in addition to medical treatment and physiotherapy (passive andactive movement) and the third is a control group: receiving medical treatmentand physiotherapy. In each group the patients were divided into right handedpatients complaining of right Hemiparesis and right handed patientscomplaining of left Hemiparesis. Outcome measures included NationalInstitutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Barthel index (BI) respectivelyat admission, three days, one week, two weeks and three weeks period oftime.Results: Results showed that motor function and disability wereimproved in the Acupuncture groups in right Handed patients complaining ofright Hemiparesis (P＜0.01) and were not improved in right Handed patientscomplaining of left Hemiparesis (P＞0.05). The improvement in the acutecerebral infarction group was much better than in the subacute cerebralinfarction group (P＜0.01).Conclusion: The motor function and functional disability may haveimprovement in the right Handed patients complaining of right hemiparesis.Early acupuncture treatment (started 1-3days post stroke onset) for acutestroke patients may show better improvement in motor functions, and consequently the activities of daily living more than acupuncture treatment forsubacute cerebral infarction (started 8 days post stroke onset).