Acupuncture adjuvant treatment for dysphagia in patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

To observe the effect of acupuncture on swallowing function and nutritional status of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) dysphagia. A total of 56 patients with PD dysphagia were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 28 cases in each one. Both groups were given conventional treatment and swallowing function rehabilitation training.On the basis, the observation group was treated with acupuncture (filiform needling and tongue picking acupuncture). The acupoints of filiform needling were Lianquan (CV 23), Shanglianquan (Extra), Yifeng (TE 17), etc.; and the tongue picking acupuncture was applied at Jinjin (EX-HN 12), Yuye (EX-HN 13) and posterior pharyngeal wall. Rehabilitation training and acupuncture were performed once a day for 5 consecutive days a week, 2 weeks as a course of treatment, 3 courses in total. The swallowing function [oral transit time (OTT), swallowing response time (SRT), pharyngeal transit time (PTT), laryngeal closure duration (LCD)] and nutritional indexes [body mass index (BMI), serum albumin (ALB), serum prealbumin (PA), hemoglobin (Hb)] in the two groups were evaluated before and after treatment, and the clinical effects were compared. After treatment, the paste and liquid OTT, SRT, PTT, LCD in the two groups were shorter than those before treatment (P<0.05), and the observation group was shorter than the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the nutritional indexes (BMI, ALB, PA, Hb) in the two groups were higher than those before treatment (P<0.05), and the observation group was higher than the control group (P<0.05). The total effective rate of the observation group was 92.9% (26/28), which was better than 67.9% (19/28) of the control group (P<0.05). Acupuncture-assisted rehabilitation training can improve the swallowing function and nutritional status in patients with Parkinson's disease swallowing disorders.