Seizure. 1999 May; 8(3): 170-4.

The effect of acupuncture in chronic intractable epilepsy.

Kloster R, Larsson PG, Lossius R, Nakken KO, Dahl R, Xiu-Ling X, Wen-Xin Z, Kinge E, Edna RÃ¸ssberg .

The National Center for Epilepsy, Sandvika, N-1301, Norway.

We examined the effect of acupuncture on epileptic seizures in humans in a controlled clinical setting. Treatment was administered by two Chinese professors of acupuncture. Effect was measured by change in seizure frequency. Twenty-nine patients with chronic intractable epilepsy completed the study. They were randomized in two groups; 15 were given classical acupuncture and 14 were given sham acupuncture. There was a reduction in seizure frequency in both groups, which did not reach a level of statistical significance. There was also an increase in the number of seizure-free weeks in both groups, which reached a level of significance in the sham group. Thus, we have not been able to prove a beneficial effect of acupuncture in chronic intractable epilepsy.Copyright 1999 BEA Trading Ltd.