Observing the therapeutic effect of "Acupuncture for Restoring Consciousness" in the treatment of post-stroke depression, 256 stroke patients were divided into acupuncture group 180 cases and medication group 76 cases in accordance with their visiting sequence to the hospital. Neiguan (PC6) Luo-Connecting Point the Eight Confluent Point, Shuigou (GV26), Baihui (GV20), Yintang and Sanyinjiao (SP6) (the affected side) have been needled in acupuncture group, 2 times per day. And the patients in medication group have been asked to take Amitriptyline. The therapeutic effects were evaluated with Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) after one month’s treatment.
Results and conclusion: The markedly effective rate and the total effective rate of acupuncture group were significantly higher than those of medication group (P<0.05). After the treatment, the total scores of SDS, HRSD and the severity index of two groups decreased in comparison with those of pre-treatment. And the therapeutic effects of acupuncture group were significantly better than those of medication group in reducing SDS, HRSD and severity index (P<0.05). The decreased values of depression, pessimistic mood and irritability of acupuncture group were all bigger than those of medication group (P<0.05). No significant difference was found between two groups in the decreased value of insomnia (P>0 05). So the “Acupuncture for Restoring Consciousness†can effectively improve depression patients’ symptoms and the effect of acupuncture is markedly superior to that of medication for post-stroke patients.
Key Words: acupuncture, post-stroke depression
Writer: Jun He, Pengfei Shen
The First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Chinese medicine, Tianjin 300193,China
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