Insights & Discussion
Acupuncture, when combined with other treatments, is an effective therapy for treating swallowing difficulties experienced after a stroke.
In the methodology used for this study, the researchers examined various English and Chinese databases up to March 2020, focusing on randomized controlled trials that used acupuncture or combined acupuncture with other treatments to help stroke patients with dysphagia. Two authors independently assessed and extracted the data. For quality control, the bias risk assessment tool recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration was used to assess each selected study. The researchers then conducted a meta-analysis using RevMan 5.3 software and calculated pooled analyses by the mean difference.
Results showed that when compared to a control group, patients who underwent acupuncture combined with other treatments experienced an improvement in their ability to swallow as measured by different scales and tests. No serious adverse effects were reported in the studies, indicating that acupuncture is not only effective but also safe as a treatment method for dysphagia following stroke.
Discover Related Insights
Meta-analysis has strong implications of the effectiveness of tongue acupuncture, especially when combined with conventional therapies, in treating poststroke aphasia. This holistic approach demonstrates significant improvements in patient outcomes.
2022 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Tongue Acupuncture for the Treatment of Poststroke Aphasia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Yang S, Li L, Jiang R, Ding H, Xu F, Ge L, et al.
Systematic Review Aphasia Post-Stroke Aphasia Tongue Acupuncture
Meta-analysis showed significant heterogeneity in ABC scores, with tongue acupuncture combined with conventional therapies proving more effective. Clinical efficacy also favored tongue acupuncture combined with conventional therapies. CFCP scores showed significant improvement with tongue acupuncture, especially when combined with conventional therapies.
Acupuncture added to conventional rehabilitation has been found more effective in reducing post-stroke spasticity than conventional rehabilitation alone.
2022 Frontiers in Neurology Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity: A systematic review and meta-analysis Xue C, Jiang C, Zhu Y, Liu X, Zhong D, Li Y, et al.
Systematic Review Acupuncture Spasticity
In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a charge was led to determine the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity. A comprehensive search across nine electronic databases was carried out up to June 2022. Identification was focused on randomized-controlled trials that scrutinized the potency and safety garnered from acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity. An independent screening of studies was initiated by two reviewers who also took charge of data extraction and bias risk assessment. Software tools were employed for statistical analysis of data.
Out of the search, 88 studies deemed eligible were included amounting to a total of 6,431 participants. Pooled data illustrated that there was a beneficial effect when combining acupuncture and conventional rehabilitation, surpassing the results obtained from conventional rehabilitation alone. Subgroup analysis underscored that acquiring acupuncture either once or twice a day had superior results than conventional rehabilitation. The antispasmodic effect seemed to improve with more treatment sessions. A small number of studies explicitly pointed out slight adverse events related to acupuncture.
Compared with conventional treatment, acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy can significantly reduce the incidence of post-stroke fatigue.
2021 Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research Acupuncture for the Adjunctive Therapy of Post-stoke Fatigue: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Chen Y, Peng M, Li Y
Systematic Review Acupuncture Fatigue
A total of 6 RCTs were included in this study, including 426 cases (213 cases in the treatment group and 213 cases in the control group).
Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that acupuncture combined with conventional rehabilitation therapy is an effective therapy for patients suffering from post-stroke fatigue, which is suitable for clinical promotion and use. However, due to methodological weakness and limited number of RCTs, the results should be interpreted cautiously. Further clinical trials with large sample sizes and a rigorous design are needed.
This review discovered that acupuncture might be a safe and effective adjuvant therapy for individuals with poststroke spastic hemiplegia.
2020 Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice Acupuncture therapy for poststroke spastic hemiplegia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Fan W, Kuang X, Hu J, Chen X, Yi W, Lu L, et al.
Systematic Review
Researchers retrieved 2452 articles in total, after screening, thirty-eight studies with 2628 participants of were included. In this meta-analysis, twenty-seven trials revealed that acupuncture therapy was associated with an increase in FMA scores compared with rehabilitation training (RT).
Acupuncture combined with antidepressants showed a more favourable effect on the treatment of post-stroke depression than antidepressants alone.
2020 Acupuncture in Medicine Does acupuncture combined with antidepressants have a better therapeutic effect on post-stroke depression? A systematic review and meta-analysis Kun Zhang, Guangwei Cui, Yuan Gao, Weidong Shen
Systematic Review
Thirteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 904 participants were included in the study. The results of this meta-analysis showed that, compared with antidepressants alone, acupuncture combined with antidepressants led to a significant decrease in the HAMD score, had a better effective rate and lower National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores, and led to a significant increase in the Barthel index scores.
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