Effects of electroacupuncture on the arterial stiffness in stroke patients / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

[Objective]It seems that in Japan’s aging society, investigating the position of acupuncture and moxibustion for the treatment of arteriosclerotic diseases is important. In this report we evaluated the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on stroke patients by measuring changes in pulse wave velocity (PWV), brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV), ankle brachial pressure index (ABI), blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). <BR>[Method]The subjects were 210 initial stroke patients. Stroke patients were randomly allocated to three groups, those only taking drug therapy (drug group), those taking drug therapy combined with rehabilitation (rehab group), and those taking drug therapy and rehabilitation combined with EA (EA group). 81 cerebral thrombosis patients (drug group n = 25, rehab group n = 28, EA group n = 28), 68 cerebral embolus patients (drug group n = 24, rehab group n = 20, EA group n = 24) and 61 cerebral hemorrhage patients (drug group n = 20, rehab group n = 21, EA group n = 20) were examined. For the evaluation method blood pressure pulse wave measuring equipment was used to measure PWV, baPWV, ABI, BP, and HR after two months, four months, and six months from the onset of treatment. <BR>[Results]After two months and four months there was no significant difference in blood vessel elasticity of the three cerebral thrombosis groups. Whereas after six months, compared to the drug group, the baPWV in cerebral thrombosis patients significantly decreased for the rehab group (p < 0.05) and EA group (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in ABI, BP, or HR. Cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral embolism patients showed no significant difference in baPWV, ABI, BP, and HR.<BR>[Conclusion]We examined the effects of adding EA to the treatment of patients who suffered cerebral thrombosis, cerebral embolism, or cerebral hemorrhage. These results show that adding EA to drug treatment and rehabilitation significantly improves blood vessel elasticity and suggests that using EA would reduce the risk of cerebral thrombosis and its reoccurrence.