Clinical efficacy of electrical stimulation and acupuncture for dysphagia in acute stroke

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the clinical efficacy of electrical stimulation and acupuncture for post-stroke bulbar palsy and to provide references for choosing appropriate treatment plan. Methods：Totally 49 post-stroke true bulbar paralysis patients and 49 post-stroke pseudo bulbar paralysis patients were randomly assigned into electrical stimulation group and acupuncture group：true bulbar paralysis-electrical stimulation group，true bulbar paralysis-acupuncture group，pseudo bulbar paralysis- electrical stimulation group，pseudo bulbar paralysis-acupuncture group. Based on the early rehabilitation training，the four groups were treated with electrical stimulation or acupuncture for 10 d. Results：There was no significant differences in response rate between electrical stimulation group and acupuncture group among pseudo bulbar paralysis patients，88.0% and 83.3% respectively（P >0.05）. However，response rate of electrical stimulation group was significantly higher than that of acupuncture group among true bulbar paralysis patients，76.0% and 41.7% respectively（P<0.05）. Conclusion：Either electrical stimulation or acupuncture combined with rehabilitation training is effec－tive in the treatment of post-stroke pseudo bulbar paralysis. For post-stroke true bulbar paralysis，it is better to choose electrical stim－ulation combined with rehabilitation training.