August 2006

Acupuncture may not help stroke patients

A systematic review appearing in the current issue of The Cochrane Library has found that although acupuncture has been used in China for hundreds of years and more frequently in Western countries to treat chronic stroke, there is no clear proof that the therapy improves patients’ rehabilitation.

The studies in the systemic review evaluated treatment that involved “traditional” acupuncture in which needles were inserted in classical meridian points, or “contemporary” acupuncture where needles were inserted into non-meridian or trigger points.

According to the authors, the review’s intent was to provide evidence that acupuncture should be routinely used to rehabilitate patients with subacute or chronic stroke. Acupuncture has been used to improve patients’ motor, sensation, speech, and other neurological functions — but the available research failed to offer sound evidence of the effects of this therapy.

Although there was some overall improvement after acupuncture treatment, the Cochrane reviewers said this result needs to be “interpreted with caution” due to the insufficient number and general poor quality of the clinical trials.

Stroke ranks as the third leading cause of death in the world and is a main reason for disability and dependency in the elderly. According to the reviewers, stroke is the second most common cause of death in China’s cities and the third common cause in its rural areas. For this reason, researchers are driven to find treatments to improve the outcome of stroke rehabilitation.

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates research in all aspects of healthcare. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing trials on a topic.

Source: Health Behavior News Service, www.hbns.org

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