Effects of low frequency electric stimulation at bilateral mastoid processes on motor function and cerebral blood flow of children with cerebral palsy

Objective To explore the effects of low frequency electric stimulation at bilateral mastoid processes on motor function and cerebral blood flow of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods Ninety children with CP were randomly divided into two groups: an electric stimulation group (group 1) and an conventional rehabilitation control group (group 2), thirty healthy children served as the normal control group. The children of group 1 were treated with FES in addition to the routine rehabilitation treatment. The children of group 2 were given of the routine rehabilitation treatment only. All the patients were treated successively with the above protocol for 3 months. The clinical effect and motor development were evaluated with the gross motor function measure (GMFM), and the blood flow velocities of anterior cerebral artery (ACA), middle cerebral artery (MCA), posterior cerebral artery (PCA) were measured by transcranial doppler (TCD) ultrasound before and after treatment. Results In group 1, significant or some improvement were achieved in 19 and 24 CP children, respectively, with an effective rate of 95.6% . In group 2, significant or some improvement were achieved in 10 and 27 CP children, respectively, with an effective rate of 82.2%. There was significant difference between the two groups with regard to the significant effective rate (P0.05). The GMFM score of group 1 was significantly higher than that of group 2 after treatment (P 0.01 ). Before treatment, the cerebral blood flow velocities of ACA, MCA, PCA in the two patient groups were all significantly lower than that of the normal controls (P0.001). After treatment, the blood flow velocity of ACA, MCA, PCA in group 1 were significantly increased (P0.001 and P0.05,respectively), while that in group 2 had no change when compared with that before the treatment. Conclusion Low frequency electric stimulation at bilateral mastoid processes can improve the motor function and increase cerebral blood flow velocity of children with CP. It could serve as a safe and effective clinical rehabilitation intervention for the CP children.