Systematic Review of Therapeutic Effect of Electroacupuncture for Idiopathic Facial Palsy at Acute Stage / 广州中医药大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To make a systematic review of therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture(EA) for idiopathic facial palsy at acute stage. Methods With reference to the included criteria and excluded criteria, clinical controlled trials of EA for idiopathic facial palsy at acute stage were screened from the databases of CBM, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP by computer retrieval and from the primary domestic academic journals of acupuncture by manual retrieval. Systematic review was performed following the Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook, and RevMan 5.3 was used for Meta-analysis. Results Sixteen clinical trials were included. The Meta-analysis results showed that the cure rate evaluated with 3 kinds of therapeutic effect criteria in the observation group was superior to that of the control group, the difference being significant (P<0.05 or P<0.01); the effects on improving days for cure, cure case number within one month, blink reflex, and case number with complications in the observation group were also superior to that of the control group, the difference being significant (P < 0.01). Conclusion EA exerts certain therapeutic effect for idiopathic facial palsy at acute stage. But for the quantity and quality of the included trials are not satisfactory, the conclusion still needs more high-quality, large-size and long-term follow-up trials to verify.