Electro-Acupuncture on Aphasia after Stroke: A Systemic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigates the effect of electro-acupuncture on aphasia after stroke.Methods: A search of OASIS, NDSL, PubMed, Cochrane, and CNKI was executed between 4 January 2021 and 4 February 2021, with no limitation on publication year. Extraction and selection from the studies were made by 3 authors. The quality of the studies was evaluated using Cochrane’s risk of bias (RoB) tool.Results: 10 studies met the selection criteria. As the treatment site for electro-acupuncture, GV20 (Baihui) was used the most. In all studies, the region located on the head was used for treatment without distinguishing between acupoints and areas of scalp acupuncture, and the stimulation was organized into 3 conditions: speed, intensity, and time. The outcome indicators used before and after treatment focused on the evaluation of language function and the degree of aphasia. The results showed that using electro-acupuncture with speech rehabilitation therapy for aphasia after stroke was more effective than using speech rehabilitation therapy alone.Conclusions: In this review, electro-acupuncture for aphasia after stroke was found to have a significant effect compared to the previous treatment alone. However, because of limitations, information was not reliable enough. Additional research is needed to produce more objective evidence.