Clinical Observation of Acupuncture plus Patent Chinese Medicine for Post-stroke Constipation

Objective: To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture plus patent Chinese medicine in treating post-stroke constipation. Methods: Sixty eligible patients with post-stroke constipation were randomized into a treatment group and a control group, 30 in each group. The treatment group was intervened by acupuncture plus Ma Zi Ren pill, while the control group was by Ma Zi Ren pill alone. The symptoms of constipation were observed before and after intervention. Results: After 2-week treatment, the constipation condition was improved in both groups, and the improvement in the treatment group was statistically more significant than that in the control group(P<0.05); respectively two weeks and a month after the intervention, the treatment group was superior to the control group in comparing the constipation score(P<0.05). However, acupuncture didn't show marked effect in improving defecation speed, initial defecation time, and spontaneous discharge frequency. The treatment group had a significantly higher short-term markedly-effective rate compared with the control group(P<0.05); the long-term therapeutic efficacy of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group(P<0.05). The adverse events happened in the treatment group were significantly less than those in the control group(P<0.05). Conclusion: Acupuncture at specific acupoints plus patent Chinese medicine can produce a content therapeutic efficacy.

Clinical observation of the effect of acupuncture on constipation after stroke

Objective： To observe the differences in therapeutic effects of acupuncture and lactulose oral solution on constipation after stroke. Method： Sixty patients with constipation after stroke were divided into an acupuncture group and a western medicine group by a random number method, with 30 cases in each group. Based on the the conventional treatment and rehabilitation for function recovery, the acupuncture group was treated at the selected the bilateral acupoints： Daheng （SP15）, Fujie （SP14）, Zhigou （TE6）, Zhaohai （KI6）, Yingxiang （LI20）, and Shaoshang （LU11） while the western medicine group was treated with 30 ml of lactulose oral solution. The clinical symptoms score and clinical efficacy of the treatment provided for constipation in both groups were recorded pre-treatment, at one week of treatment, after treatment for two weeks, and one month after discharge respectively. Results： The clinical symptom scores of constipation in the two groups after one week of treatment, two weeks of treatment, and one month of treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment （P 〈 0.001）. The treatment efficacy in the acupuncture group showed significant improvement when compared with the western medicine group, at one week, two weeks and one month （1.03 ± 1.19 vs 1.43 ± 1.19, P 〉 0.05 ; 0.73 ± 1.01 vs 1.33 ± 1.18, P 〈 0.05; 0.53 ± 0.82 vs 1.27 ± 1.14, P 〈 0.05, respectively）. The efficacy rate was statistically significant at two weeks after treatment and one month after follow-up （86.67% vs 70%,P 〈 0.05; 93.33% vs 73.33%, P 〈 0.05, respectively）. Conclusion： The short-term and long-term efficacy of acupuncture on constipation after stroke is better thanthat of treatment with lactulose oral solution. This method is safe, free of side effects, durable, has high feasibility, and is suitable for clinical application.