Clinical efficacy of short-term acupuncture in treatment of swallowing dysfunction in Wilson's disease
Objective To investigate the effect of short-term acupuncture on dysphagia in patients with cerebral-type Wilson's disease(WD).Methods Ninety patients with cerebral WD and swallowing dysfunction were randomly as-signed to acupuncture(n=30),sham acupuncture(n=30),and control(n=30)groups.Patients in all groups received conventional drug treatment,while patients in the acupuncture group received additional acupuncture at Jingjin(EX-HN12),Yuye(EX-HN13),Renying(ST9),Lianquan(RN23),Lianquan lateral point,and Tiantu(RN22).Patients in the sham acupuncture group received shallow puncture beside the acupoints without needle manipulation.Treatment fre-quency was once a day for 5 days a week over 2 weeks.Surface electromyography(sEMG)was collected using a Noraxon surface EMG tester,and data were processed with MR3.14 software to record the median frequency(MF)of relevant mus-cle groups.Swallowing function was evaluated using the Watian Water Drinking Test(WST)and the Standardized Swal-lowing Assessment(SSA).Quality of life was assessed using the Swallowing Quality of Life(SWAL-QOL).Nutritional sta-tus was evaluated by measuring serum albumin(Alb)using an immunoturbidimetric assay.Results After treatment,the MF of the submental and infrahyoid muscle groups in the acupuncture group was significantly higher than in the sham acupuncture and control groups(P<0.05 or P<0.01);the sham acupuncture group had higher MF than the control group(P<0.05 or P<0.01);there were no significant differences in the masseter or orbicularis oris muscle MF among the three groups(all P>0.05).WST and SSA scores after treatment in all groups were lower than those before treatment,and those were lower in the acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups than in the control group(P<0.05 or P<0.01);there was no significant difference between the acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups(P>0.05).The SWAL-QOL score and serum Alb levels after treatment in the acupuncture group were higher than those before treatment,which were higher than those in the sham acupuncture and control groups(all P<0.01).There were no significant changes in the SWAL-QOL score or serum Alb levels in the sham acupuncture and control groups(all P>0.05).Conclusion Short-term acupuncture signifi-cantly improves the functions of submental and infrahyoid muscle groups in cerebral WD patients with dysphagia,and en-hances quality of life and nutritional status by improving swallowing function.
万方数据
维普
