Korean Medicine Treatment with Scalp Acupuncture for Diplopia and Lateropulsion in a Patient with Lateral Medullary Infarction: A Case Report

Abstract

Background: This case study aimed to report the efficacy of scalp acupuncture in a patient with diplopia or lateropulsion and lateral medullary infarction.Case report: A 41-year-old woman with lateral medullary infarctions presented with symptoms of left-sided diplopia, left lateropulsion, headache, dizziness, and right-sided dysesthesia for 8 months. She received daily Korean medicine treatments, including scalp acupuncture. During the treatment period, various assessments were conducted, including the symptom score, visual analog scale (VAS), diplopia questionnaire (DQ), eyeball movement, dizziness handicap inventory (DHI), Korean version of the berg balance scale (K-BBS), activities-specific balance confidence scale (ABC), vestibular disorders activities of daily living scale (VADL), and the EuroQol five-dimension index (EQ-5D index). The patient’s symptom score, VAS, DQ, DHI, and VADL scores decreased, while K-BBS, ABC, and EQ-5D scores increased. Additionally, eyeball movements improved after Korean medicine treatment including scalp acupuncture.Conclusions: The observed improvements suggest that Korean medicine treatment including scalp acupuncture can effectively alleviate diplopia and lateropulsion in patients with lateral medullary infarction.