Observation on the efficacy of post-stroke dysphagia treated with He's santong acupuncture therapy through surface electromyography: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

To observe the clinical therapeutic effect on post-stroke dysphagia treated with He's santong (triple promotion) acupuncture therapy through surface electromyography (sEMG). A total of 60 patients with post-stroke dysphagia were divided into a routine treatment group and a He's santong acupuncture therapy group, using blocked randomization, 30 cases in each one. In the routine treatment group, the secondary prevention and swallowing rehabilitation training were adopted. In the He's santong acupuncture therapy group, on the base of the treatment as the routine treatment group, weitong (mild promotion, routine acupuncture at bilateral Fengchi ［GB20］, Fengfu ［GV16］, Yifeng ［TE17］, Lianquan ［CV23］, Jia-lianquan ［Extra］, Fenglong ［ST40］ and Tongli ［HT5］, needle retaining for 30 min, 5 treatments a week), wentong (warm promotion, pricking with fire needle at bilateral GB20 and CV23, twice a week) and qiangtong (strong promotion, blood-letting with three-edge needle at Jinjin ［EX-HN12］, Yuye ［EX-HN13］ and Yanhoubi ［Extra］, twice a week) treatment was added. The therapy was given consecutively for 4 weeks in each group. The score of fiberoptic endoscopic examination of swallowing (FEES) and Rosenbek-penetration-aspiration scale (PAS), the score of swallowing grading scale, the score of the modified Mann assessment of swallowing ability (MMASA) and the peak amplitude of sEMG were recorded before and after treatment in patients. Compared with before treatment, the score of FEES and PAS after treatment was decreased (P<0.05), the scores of swallowing grading scale and MMASA after treatment were increased in both routine treatment group and He's santong acupuncture therapy group (P<0.05), the peak amplitude of sEMG was increased (P<0.05) in the He's santong acupuncture therapy group and decreased (P<0.05) in the routine treatment group. Compared with the routine treatment group, the score of FEES and PAS was decreased (P<0.05), the scores of swallowing grading scale and peak amplitude of sEMG were increased in the He's santong acupuncture therapy group (P<0.05). He's santong acupuncture therapy is obviously effective on post-stroke dysphagia, which may be related to its effects in increasing the contraction of swallowing-related muscles and improving the peak amplitude of hyoid muscle group.