Biblioteca Virtual en Salud

Objective:

To explore the effect of Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture treatment on brain network reorganization for the patients with stroke recovery, and therefore understand the neural mechanism underlying Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture treatment.

Methods:

Prospective case series study. Thirteen acute ischemia stroke patients were recruited from the Department of Neurology, Shanghai Minhang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine from Aug 2018 to Oct 2019. They were treated with Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture once a day for 10 consecutive days in addition to routine treatments, and received clinical assessments before treatment and 14 days after treatment onset. EEG signals were recorded during the first acupuncture treatment, from before inserting the needles (the baseline), during needle retention, to after removal of the needles. The brain network was constructed using phase locking index, and its clustering coefficient (CC), characteristic path length (PL) and small-worldness (S) were analyzed using one-way repeated ANOVA.

Results:

Compared with the baseline, the CC of delta-band network (sparsity=0.10 t=3.306, P=0.006; 0.12 t=2.909, P=0.013; 0.14 t=2.331, P=0.038) and the PL of delta-band (sparsity=0.12 t=3.236, P=0.007; 0.14 t=2.754, P=0.017, 0.18 t=2.878, P=0.014) and alpha-band (sparsity=0.10 t=2.432, P=0.032) networks were significantly decreased during the needle retention stage. Clinical assessments demonstrated a significant treatment efficacy of Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture, and its efficacy which was indicated by improved NIHSS score, was significantly correlated with the CC changes in the delta band network from baseline to needle retention. The correlation was strongest when the network sparsity was 0.12 ( r=0.78, P=0.002).

Conclusion:

Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture can regulate the brain network of stroke patients in real time, and this immediate regulation maybe associated with its treatment effect.