Effect of early acupuncture treatment on the improvement of limb function in patients with acute cerebral infarction / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the effect of early acupuncture treatment on limb function in patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI).Methods:A total of 114 patients with first-episode ACI in our hospital from March 2018 to March 2019 were selected and randomly divided into three groups, 38 cases in each group. The control group was treated with conventional western medicine therapy, while the experimental group A and group B were given acupuncture treatment on the basis of the control group. The group A started treatment at 3rd days and the group B started at 10th day after admission. All three groups were treated for 2 weeks. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to evaluate the degree of neurological deficit. The Fugl Meyer assessment of motor function (FAM) was used to evaluate the motor function. The Barthel Index (BI) was used to evaluate the activities of daily living, and the rehabilitation status was evaluated according to muscle strength grading. The levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were detected by ELISA to evaluate the clinical efficacy.Results:The total effective rate was 94.7% (36/38) in group A, 84.2% (30/38) in group B and 73.7% (22/38) in control group. The difference was statistically significant ( χ2=14.748, P<0.01). After treatment, NIHSS scores of three groups were significantly decreased ( F=97.619, P<0.01), and the scores of FAM, BI and muscle strength in group A were significantly lower than those in the group B ( t=12.580, P<0.01); FAM, BI scores and muscle strength of three groups were significantly increased ( F=134.525, 35.100, 164.160, all Ps<0.001), and those of group A were significantly higher than those in group B ( t=8.634, 7.260, 20.305, all Ps<0.001). After treatment, serum NGF (148.80 ± 22.17 pg/ml, 132.14 ± 20.40 pg/ml vs. 125.82 ± 18.31 pg/ml, F=12.926), BDNF (5.01 ± 1.14 ng/ml, 4.10 ± 1.09 ng/ml vs. 3.92 ± 0.95 ng/ml, F=11.481) in the group A and group B were significantly higher than those in the control group ( P<0.01), and serum NGF, BDNF in group A were significantly lower than those in the group B ( t=5.046, 5.277, all Ps<0.01). Conclusions:Early acupuncture treatment can increase the levels of serum NGF and BDNF, promote the recovery of nerve factors and limb function, and the curative effect of acupuncture treatment starting at 3rd days after admission is better than 10th day.