Acute and Subacute Phase of Cerebral Infarction After Treatment With Acupuncture and Medical Therapy

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in developed countries and the second cause of death in patients aged 65 years or more. Stroke is characterized by the sudden loss of circulation to an area of the brain, resulting in a corresponding loss of neurologic function.The aim of this study is to investigate whether Acupuncture treatment has an additional effect to medical treatment and physiotherapy (passive and active movement) in cerebral infarction and Acupuncture treatment in acute phase cerebral infarction (started 1-3 days post stroke onset) is more effective than Acupuncture in subacute phase cerebral infarction (started 8 days post stroke onset). In this study 126 patients suffering from cerebral infarction were divided into three groups. Two of them are Acupuncture groups (acute cerebral infarction group and subacute cerebral infarction group): receiving Acupuncture in addition to medical treatment and physiotherapy and the third is a (control group): receiving medical treatment and physiotherapy. In each group the patients were divided into Right Handed patients complaining of Right Hemiparalysis (RHRH) and Right Handed patients complaining of Left Hemiparalysis (RHLH). Results showed that motor function and disability were improved in the Acupuncture groups in RHRH (P<0.01) and were not improved in RHLH (P>0.05). The improvement in the acute cerebral infarction group was much better than in the subacute cerebral infarction group (P<0.01).