Acupuncture for dysphagia following stroke: A systematic review
Acupuncture for dysphagia following stroke: A systematic reviewAbstract
Background: This systematic review reports an update evaluation and critically appraise on available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) whichinvestigated the effectiveness of acupuncture on dysphagia in stroke rehabilitation.
Methods: AliteraturesearchwasperformedtoidentifyallRCTsthatinvestigatedthetherapeuticeffectofacupunctureondysphagiaafterstrokefrom 1966 to 2011. The recruited studies were classified according to the types of participants, types of intervention, outcome measures and results.The corresponding methodological qualities of the recruited studies were also evaluated using Cochrane risk-of-bias criteria and the PhysiotherapyEvidence Database (PEDro) scale.
Results: The current review was based on nine RCTs that showed a positive effect of acupuncture and conventional rehabilitation on dysphagiacompared to conventional rehabilitation alone. All the studies reported short-term effect of acupuncture on dysphagia and no follow-up data wereavailable.
Conclusions: The current review appeared to reveal that acupuncture together with conventional rehabilitation has positive effect on dysphagiaafter stroke. However, with the concerns in the methodology of the studies in this systematic review, a larger sample, multi-centre, well designedRCTs with homogeneity of outcome measures needs to be carried out before recommending acupuncture as a standard treatment to patients withdysphagia after stroke.
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