Efficacies of Brain-activating and Orifice-opening Acupuncture Versus Batroxobin in Treating Cerebral Infarction and Determination of Inflammatory Cytokine

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacies of brain-activating and orifice-opening acupuncture versus batroxobin in treating cerebral infarction and the results of inflammatory cytokine determination.Method Eighty patients with cerebral infarction were randomly allocated to a medication(batroxobin) group of 40 cases and an acupuncture plus medication(brain-activating and orifice-opening acupuncture plus batroxobin) group of 40 cases.At the same time,30 age-matched persons with normal physical examination findings were enrolled as a control group.The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) scores,the Modified Rankin Scale(MRS) scores,tumor necrosis factor-(TNF-),C-reaction protein(CRP) and interleukin-6(IL-6) levels were compared between the medication and acupuncture plus medication groups of patients before treatment and at 15 and 30 days after.Post-treatment changes in MRI were observed.Result Before treatment,TNF-,CRP and IL-6 levels were significantly higher in the medication and acupuncture plus medication groups than in the control group(P0.01).The NIHSS and MRS scores decreased significantly in the acupuncture plus medication group after treatment compared with the medication group(P 0.05).TNF-,CRP and IL-6 levels decreased somewhat in the two groups of patients after treatment.The levels of two kinds of cytokines were lower in the acupuncture plus medication group than in the medication group(P0.05,P0.01) and close to those in the control group at 15 and 30 days after treatment.Compared with the medication group,the number of patients with the enlargement of ischemia area was small in the acupuncture plus medication group(P0.05) and the average ischemia area was also small in the acupuncture plus medication group(P0.05) after treatment.Conclusion Brain-activating and orifice-opening acupuncture plus batroxobin can reduce TNF-,CRP and IL-6 levels,effectively prevent the enlargement of ischemia area and improve neurological deficits in acute cerebral infarction.