Peng J, et al. – A scrutiny was performed of the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA) on Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Based on the results, the inference drawn was that EA was effective for AD. It possibly led to an improvement of the clinical symptoms in AD patients.

Methods

• 50 AD patients were randomly allocated into a Western medication (WM) group (n=25) and an acupuncture plus medication (APM) group (n=25).
• The WM group took oral huperzine A capsules.
• Along with huperzine A capsules, APM group patients received EA at Shenting (GV 24), Baihui (GV 20), Dazhui (GV 14), Fengfu (GV 16), Mingmen (GV 4) and Yongquan (KI 1).
• The needles on the above points were connected to G6805-II electric stimulator [3 pairs: Shenting (GV 24) and Baihui (GV 20); Dazhui (GV 14) and Fengfu (GV 16); and bilateral Yongquan (KI 1)].
• The needles were retained 25 min.
• The therapy was performed once a day, and 10 times made up a course of treatment.
• The patients received a total of 3 treatment courses.
• There was a 3-day interval between two courses.
• The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Hasegawa dementia scale revised (HDS-R) were conducted prior to and after treatment.
• An assessment was carried out of the clinical efficacies, when the treatment was completed.

Results

• No between-group statistical variations were reported in MMSE and HDS-R scores (both P>0.05), prior to the therapy.
• After treatment, the MMSE and HDS-R scores in the APM group appeared to be considerably higher than those in the WM group (both P<0.05).
• The total effective rate in the APM group was determined as 88.0%, versus 76.0% in the WM group, illustrating a statistical difference (P<0.05).