| ObjectiveThis research was taken out to observe the efficacy and safety of acupuncture at Baihui and Shenting combined with rehabilitation training compared with regular rehabilitation training for the management of patients with PSCI. We hoped to provide clinical evidence to the formation of standard therapy with rehabilitation of TCM on PSCI.MethodsThis research was a prospective, randomized controlled trial. In this experiment, there was a total of 52 patients who had cognitive impairment within 1 year after first onset of stroke. All subjects taking part in the research were divided into control group of 26 cases and therapy group of 26 cases by random number table. The patients in the control group were given the treatment of regular rehabilitation training. And the patients in the therapy group were given the treatment of acupuncture at Baihui and Shenting combined with regular rehabilitation training. The treatment of both groups would last for 4 weeks (five days per-week and once a day). The general information (including gender, age, duration of stroke, education level, pathology character, and related underlying diseases) of patients in two groups was compared at baseline. Cognitive function, activity of daily living and motor function of each participators in both groups were assessed two times with intervals of four weeks (once at admission and once after the final intervention). Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were used to evaluate the cognitive function. Activity of daily living was measured using Modified Barthel Index (MBI). And motor function was evaluated by Simplified Fugl-Meyer Motor Function Assessment (FMA). Moreover, all results of before and after treatment between control group and therapy group were compared. In addition, all adverse events during treatment would been recorded in this research.ResultsFifty-two patients with PSCI hospitalized in the Rehabilitation Department of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM, China (January 2014-February 2015) were recruited. Two cases were excluded because of economy cause automation. And in this research, the ratio of cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral infarction was 22:28, there were 33 male and 17 female with an age from 41 to 75 years old. Moreover, the average duration of stroke was 77 days (range of 31-216 days). No patient dropped out from this research due to adverse effects. All measures including general information and the scores of MMSE, MoCA, MBI and FAM were similar between control and therapy groups at baseline (P>0.05). Both groups had a significant increase on MMSE and MoCA scores between before and after treatment (P<0.05). Within both groups, there was also a significant increase on MBI and FMA scores between baseline and after invention (P<0.01). After four weeks of treatment, the patients in the therapy group had a greater improvement on MMSE and MoCA scores than that in the control group. Furthermore, the difference between two groups on MMSE and MoCA scores was obvious (P<0.05). Besides, the increasing of MBI score in the therapy group was also larger than that in the control group after therapy for 4 weeks (P<0.05). Similarly, the FAM score of the therapy group increased more markedly compared with that of the control group (P<0.05). No adverse event happened during the whole period of this study.ConclusionAcupuncture at Baihui and Shenting combined with regular rehabilitation training could improve cognitive function, motor function and the ability of daily living of patients with PSCI, and its effect was better than that of regular rehabilitation training, and without any severe side effects. |
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