Governor vessel acupuncture for acute ischemic stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is the major type of stroke, which highly risks human health and life quality. Governor vessel acupuncture (GV Ac) is one specific acupoint selection treatment. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the clinical value of GV Ac in AIS patients.Methods: Seven electronic databases were searched for all related randomized controlled trials before December 2020. The included studies should meet the following criteria: all target patients were diagnosed as AIS; the experimental group used GV Ac as the only intervention or combined with routine neurology therapy as conventional treatment; the control group received ordinary acupuncture, or the same conventional treatment as the experimental group, or both. Evaluated the quality of all included trials and performed a meta-analysis of the extracted data.Results: A total of 18 trials were included, involving 1,543 AIS patients. The results showed compared to the conventional treatment, GV Ac combining with conventional therapy resulted in Barthel Index (BI) (MD

An overview of the evidence to guide decision-making in acupuncture therapies for early recovery after acute ischemic stroke

“…In total, 114 RCTs involving 9921 participants were included in 7 SRs. The time to initiate acupuncture therapies in patients was within 48 h of AIS onset in 1 SR ( 23 ), 14 days in 2 SRs ( 20 , 22 ), and 1 month in 4 SRs ( 19 , 21 , 24 , 25 ). Acupuncture therapies included conventional acupuncture (CA), electroacupuncture (EA 1 ), eye acupuncture (EA 2 ), foot acupuncture (FA), scalp acupuncture (SA), governor vessel acupuncture (GV Ac), and Xingnao Kaiqiao needling method acupuncture (XNKQ Ac).…”

“…One SR reported that XNKQ Ac plus CA improved BI better than CA alone (1 RCT, MD = 17.17, 95% CI 9.15 to 25.19, P < 0.0001) (20). mRS Acupuncture + conventional therapy vs. conventional therapy One SR reported that mRS at 1 month in the acupuncture group was lower than that in the control group (3 RCTs, MD = −0.63, 95% CI−0.95 to−0.32, P < 0.0001, I 2 = 0%) (19). Although the difference had statistical significance, the effect size was far <1 point.…”

“…A list of 5 studies, that appeared to meet the eligibility criteria but were excluded, is shown in Supplementary Table 2 along with reasons for exclusion. Ultimately, 7 SRs met the eligibility criteria (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). Figure 1 shows details of selecting studies.…”

“…The date of the last retrieval in the SRs varied between October 2007 and December 2020. Four SRs were in the English language (19)(20)(21)(22), and the other 3 were Chinese (23)(24)(25). The number of participants varied across SRs, ranging from 429 to 3,792.…”

“…Acupuncture + conventional therapy vs. conventional therapy Four SRs adopted NIHSS measuring NDS and revealed that acupuncture therapies were associated with a significant reduction in NIHSS (19,21,23,24). The heterogeneity of 2 SRs was insignificant (4 RCTs, MD = −1.18, 95% CI−1.52 to−0.83, P < 0.00001, I 2 = 0%; 17 RCTs, MD = −1.86, 95% CI−2.06 to−1.66, P < 0.00001, I 2 = 22%) (19,24). The other SRs had significant heterogeneity (6 RCTs, SMD = −0.81, 95% CI−1.14 to−0.49, P < 0.00001, I 2 = 51%; 12 RCTs, MD = −3.51, 95% CI−4.54 to−2.48, P < 0.00001, I 2 = 90%).…”