Assessment of the Clinical Efficacy of Acupuncture with Intelligent Three Needles as Main Treatment for Post-stroke Depression

Objective To Investigate the efficacy of acupuncture with intelligent three needles as main points in treating post-stroke depression.Methods Thirty-six patients meeting the diagnostic criteria of post-stroke depression,were randomly allocated to an acupuncture group of 18 cases and a medication group of 18 cases.The acupuncture group was treated by selection of intelligent three needles(bilateral Benshen,and Shenting) as main points and the medication group,by oral administration of Prozac.The severity of depression was assessed using the HAMD-17 Scale in the two groups of patients before and after treatment.A post-treatment evaluation was made using the criteria for assessing the therapeutic effect on PSD.Results There was a statistically significant pre-/post-treatment difference in the score in the two groups of patients(P0.05).There was a statistically significant post-treatment difference in the score between the two groups of patients(P0.05).There was a statistically significant difference in the marked efficacy rate between the two groups of patients(P0.05).Conclusion Both acupuncture with intelligent three needles as main points and oral Prozac have clinically a certain therapeutic effect on post-stroke depression,but the marked efficacy rate of acupuncture is higher than that of oral Prozac.