Acupuncture in combination with nimodipine showed a
sustainable improvement of cognitive function in patients with post-cerebral
infarction. It was reported in journal of BMC Complementary and Alternative
Medicine.
Patients with cerebral vascular disease such as stroke
often develop cognitive dysfunction ranging from mild cognitive impairment
(MCI) to dementia. It was reported that nearly 50% of patients developed MCI
within four years after stroke. Clinical studies showed that cholinesterase
inhibitors donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine produced some beneficial
effect in patients with MCI. However none of them was approved for the
treatment of vascular cognitive impairment due to the uncertain effect of
drugs. Acupuncture has been used to treat cognitive impairment in China for a
long time.
Dr. S Wang and colleagues in China conducted a randomized
clinical study to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture alone or in
combination with nimodipine to treat cerebral infarction-induced MCI. A total
of 126 patients with post-cerebral infarction MCI were recruited and randomly
divided into 3 groups, nimodipine alon group (30 mg/time and 3 times daily),
acupuncture alone group and acupuncture combined nimodipine group. Patients were
assessed with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale before treatment, at
the end of 3-month treatment and post-treat 3-month follow-up. Acupuncture
stimulation was manually applied at following acupoints: DU20, EX-HN1, ST2, GB20,
GB12, BL10, DU26, HT7, PC6, ST40, SP6 and LR3, 30 min each time, 6 times a week
for 3 months.
At the end of study, all three treatment groups showed a
significant improvement judged by MoCA scale compared with respective baseline;
however, the significant improvement was markedly higher in combination group
compared nimodipine alone and acupuncture alone group. Further, at the 3-month
follow-up the sustained improvement was more significant in combination group
compared other two groups. No adverse effect was reported with three groups at
the end of study.
The study suggested that acupuncture could be used as an
adjunct therapy to drug treatment to further improve cognitive function in
patients with post-infarction.
Reference:
S Wang et al., Efficacy
and safety assessment of acupuncture and nimodipine to treat mild cognitive
impairment after cerebral infarction: a randomized controlled trial. BMC
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2016) 16:361. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27623621
