J Tradit Chin Med. 2001 Jun; 21(2): 103-9.

Clinical study on treatment of senile vascular dementia by acupuncture.

Gao H, Yan L, Liu B, Wang Y, Wei X, Sun L, Cui H.

Hospital Affiliated to Weifang Medical College, Weifang 261031, Shandong Province.

63 patients with senile vascular dementia were randomly divided into the treatment group (treated by acupuncture) and the control group (treated with piracetam). The authors observed the changes in the score of Hasegawa's dementia scale (HDS), p300, rheoencephalogram, topographic EEG, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in erythrocytes, and lipid peroxide (LPO) level in plasma before and after treatment. The statistical data showed that the total effective rate in the treatment group (80.6%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (25%), and the differences in the observed indexes before and after treatment were significant (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01) in the treatment group but not in the control group (P > 0.05), indicating that the acupuncture treatment was superior in immediate therapeutic effect on senile vascular dementia to drug treatment.