Clinical Observation of Acupuncture plus Patent Chinese Medicine for Post-stroke Constipation / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus patent Chinese medicine in treating post-stroke constipation. ＜br> Methods: Sixty eligible patients with post-stroke constipation were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 30 in each group. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture plusMa Zi Ren pill, while the control group was byMa Zi Ren pill alone. The symptoms of constipation were observed before and after intervention. ＜br> Results: After 2-week treatment, the constipation condition was improved in both groups, and the improvement in the treatment group was statistically more significant than that in the control group (P＜0.05); respectively two weeks and a month after the intervention, the treatment group was superior to the control group in comparing the constipation score (P＜0.05). However, acupuncture didn’t show marked effect in improving defecation speed, initial defecation time, and spontaneous discharge frequency. The treatment group had a significantly higher short-term markedly-effective rate compared with the control group (P＜0.05); the long-term therapeutic efficacy of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P＜0.05). The adverse events happened in the treatment group were significantly less than those in the control group (P＜0.05). ＜br> Conclusion: Acupuncture at specific acupoints plus patent Chinese medicine can produce a content therapeutic efficacy.