Acupuncture therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder where recurrent seizures are caused by abnormal electrical discharges from the brain and incurs devastating effects on both patients and their families. Most seizures can be controlled by a single antiepileptic drug. Unfortunately some patients require more than one antiepileptic medication to control their seizures. Drug-resistant epilepsy is a seizure that has failed to respond to at least one monotherapy treatment with a standard antiepileptic drug. Vagus nerve stimulation has been used to drug-resistant epilepsy. During the process of vagus nerve stimulation, the left vagus nerve was stimulated by an implanted electrode which sometimes causes the safety and practicability issues.

Acupuncture techniques can be classified in two major categories: one is non-invasive technique, including acupressure, auricular acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical stimulation; and the other is invasive technique, including needles and electroacupuncture. Recently as transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation is used as an alternative therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy. In a pilot study, 47 of 50 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy completed the 24-week treatment, during treatment 3 patients dropped off. After 8-week treatment 6 of 47 patients (12%) showed no seizure and 12 patients (24%) had reduced seizure frequency. By the end of 24-week treatment, 8 patients (16%) were seizure free and 19 patients (38%) displayed reduction in seizure frequency.

The results of the study showed that transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation, one type of acupuncture therapies, is effective in suppress epileptic seizures and is a safe and economical treatment option for drug-resistant epilepsy.

Reference:

P Rong et al., (2014) Chin Med J, 127 (2):300-304.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24438620