Cents Fire Acupuncture And Clinical Evaluation Of Acupuncture Treatment Of Intractable Facial Paralysis

Objective:to establish the definition and the diagnostic standards of refractory facial palsy, as well as the effective managements to tackle clinical problems.Materials and methods:facial palsy patients who met the criteria were recruited at the outpatient department of acupuncture at Guang'anmen Hospital. In order to establish the baseline, all patients were evaluated with Sunnybrook, FDIS and FDIP scores; we also examined functions of prominent facial muscles and observed the disease impact on patients' body and mind. Based on those evaluations, Using prospective cohort study for clinical experiment, self controlled study, patients were divided into fire needle combined with filiform needle group (Group A, treatment group) and filiform needle group (Group B, control group). After 1,3,6,9 weeks, we evaluated the patients with Sunnybrook, FDIS and FDIP scores as well as adverse events. All data were analyzed with SPSS 13.0 to conclude whether acupuncture is effective for the treatment of refractory facial palsy and whether fire needle combined with filiform needle is better than filiform needle acupuncture.Results:in total,35patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study.22 of them were willing to get acupuncture treatment using fire needle combined with filiform needle while 13 were willing to be treated with filiform needle.After one week treatment, Sunnybrook score was significantly improved in the fire needle combined with filiform needle group (Group A, treatment group) (<0.01).Simultaneously, social communication and self-reported FDIS improved significantly as well (P<0.05) However, no significant improvement was found on FDIP in group A, on Sunnybrook score, FDIP, social communication, FDIS in filiform needle group (Group B, control group). Through comparison, there was no difference found between the treatment group and control group in Sunnybrook score, FDIP and FDIS. In conclusion, there was lack of evidence in proving that fire needle combined with filiform needle is better than filiform neede.In three weeks after treatment, significant improvement was found in Sunnybrook score, FDIP score, FDIS scores of Group A (P<0.01), indicating that significant improvements were found in Group A patients. In the control group, no significant difference was found in all these three types of scores, indicating filiform needle acupuncture had no obvious effects in patients with refractory facial palsy. There was no significant difference in Sunnybrook score and FDIP score between these two groups, however significant difference was found in FDIS between these two groups. It implied that fire needle combined with filiform needle was better than filiform needle acupuncture in improving patients'social communications and self-reported symptom improvements, while it showed a lack of evidence in proving that fire needle combined with filiform needle was better in the improvement of Sunnybrook (facial nerve function evaluations), FDIP (physiological functions).In six weeks after treatment, significant improvement was found in Sunnybrook score, FDIP score, FDIS scores of Group A (P<0.01), indicating that significant improvements were found in Group A patients. In the control group, no significant difference was found in all these three types of scores, indicating filiform needle acupuncture had no obvious effects in patients with refractory facial palsy. There was no significant difference in Sunnybrook score and FDIP score between these two groups, however significant difference was found in FDIS between these two groups (P<0.05). It implied that fire needle combined with filiform needle was better than filiform needle acupuncture in improving patients'social communications and self-reported symptom improvements, while it showed a lack of evidence in proving that fire needle combined with filiform needle was better in the improvement of Sunnybrook (facial nerve function evaluations), FDIP (physiological functions).In nine weeks after treatment, significant improvement was found for scores of Sunnybrook, FDIP and FDIS in needle combined with filiform needle group (Group A, treatment group) (P<0.01), indicating significant improvements. Also, significant change happened in Sunnybrook, FDIP scores of the filiform needle group when compared with baseline (P<0.05), indicating filiform needle acupuncture was effective. There was no significant difference found between these two groups in Sunnybrook, FDIP scores except FDIS score (P<0.05), indicating that fire needle combined with filiform needle was better than filiform needle in the improvement of patients'social communications and self-reported improvements; whereas there was lack of evidence in proving that fire needle combined with filiform needle was better in improving Sunnybrook (facial nerve function evaluations) and FDIP (physiological functions) scores.sum up, fire needle combined with filiform needle is an effective therapy in the management of refractory facial palsy; it has rapid and continuous therapeutic effects (it significantly improved patient's Sunnybrook score and improved patients'FDIP score). Fire needle combined with filiform needle was better than filiform needle group in improving patients'social communication and self-reported symptom improvements. However, no significant difference was found between these two groups in the improvement of Sunnybrook and FDIP scores, for which further large sample research is needed.Conclusion:a. fire needle combined with filiform needle is an effective therapy in the management of refractory facial palsy. It has a rapid and significant therapeutic effects in the improvements of patients'scores of Sunnybrook, FDIP and social communication as well as social communication.b. fire needle combined with filiform needle acupuncture is a safe therapy.c. both fire needle combined with filiform needle and filiform needle cannot prevent the occurrence of facial palsy sequelae.