Therapeutic efficacy observation on scalp acupuncture for vascular dementia

• Published in: Journal of acupuncture and tuina science 2012-02, Vol.10 (1), p.38-43
• Main Authors: Huang, Lin-na, An, Jun-ming, Su, Tong-sheng, Wang, Pu, Dong, Lan, Zhang, Ruo-ping, Ren, Yu-juan, Ren, Yuan-yuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Acupuncture; Chinese medicine; Dementia; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Social behavior; Special Topic Study
• ISSN: 1672-3597; 1993-0399
• DOI: 10.1007/s11726-012-0567-z

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of scalp acupuncture for vascular dementia due to deficiency of the liver and kidney in a multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial. Methods A total of 184 cases were randomly allocated into a scalp acupuncture group and body acupuncture group. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Blessed-Roth behavior scale (BBS), activities of daily living (ADL) scale and scores of signs and symptoms based traditional Chinese medicine were used to assess cases in both groups before and after the treatment. Results The MMSE score and improvement of TCM-based signs and symptoms in the scalp acupuncture group were significantly better than that in the control group ( P 0.05). The marked and total effective rates of cognition improvement in the scalp acupuncture group were significantly better than that in the control group, while there were no significant differences between the two groups in improvement of social behavior and TCM-based signs and symptoms. Also, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the total effective rate for improvement of ADL. Conclusion Scalp acupuncture can substantially improve the VD patients’ activity of daily living, alleviate the TCM-based signs and symptoms and increase their mental state and social behavior. In addition, scalp acupuncture is safe, effective and easy to operate on any postures.