A Clinical Observation On Peripheral Facial Palsy

Objective:This study was to observe the clinical efficacy of treating peripheral facial palsy patients with acupuncture or electro-acupuncture. To determine whether electro-acupunctural therapy provides a better degree of facial muscle recovery in patients with peripheral facial palsy than acupunctural therapy. Then explore correlations between the clinical efficacy of electro-acupunctural therapy and the outputted-voltage.Methods:Patients treated with the same acupoints were divided into3groups at random:acupunctural group, fit-voltage group and half-fit-voltage group. The acupunctural group received regular acupunctural therapy only. The fit-voltage group was treated with electro-acupunctural therapy, of which the voltage stimulation is just under patients’ tolerance. The half-fit-voltage group was also treated with electro-acupunctural therapy, of which the voltage stimulation is half the patients’ tolerance. A therapeutic course lasted for21days, once a day, and30minutes per time (one-day rest each week). And every patient was evaluated according to House-Brackmann grading system before and after a therapeutic course. Then we compared the outcomes within each group and between groups.Results:All three groups showed statistically significant differences within each group before and after a therapeutic course (p<0.05), the total effective rate was85.3%in the acupunctural group,94.1%in the fit-voltage group and91.9%in the half-fit-voltage group. And there was a statistically significant difference between the acupunctural group and electro-acupunctural groups (p<0.05). While no statistically significant differences between the fit-voltage group and the half-fit-voltage group (p>0.05). Conclusion:Based on this clinical observation, both acupunctural therapy and electro-acupunctural therapy are efficient in treating peripheral facial palsy patients. Besides, electro-acupunctural therapy provides a better recovery in patients with peripheral facial palsy than acupunctural therapy. In addition, the results indicate that the higher voltage outputs within a certain range, the better patients recover.