The Impact of Electroacupuncture Combined With NGF on Clinical Effect and Functional Changes on Ischemic Stroke

Specific Stimulation Mode Electroacupuncture Combined With NGF for Recovery Period of Ischemic Stroke：Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Ischemic stroke is a common clinical disease, often accompanied by motor dysfunction and cognitive impairment. At present, clinical treatment for patients with ischemic stroke recovery is limited and ineffective. The emergence of NGF has surprised the field of neurorehabilitation, but the clinical effect is not satisfactory. The main problem is that NGF is a macromolecular material with a molecular weight of 13.4 KD, which is difficult to penetrate the blood brain barrier. A large number of previous studies in our team have found that electroacupuncture with specific stimulation mode can open the blood brain barrier and induce NGF into the brain。Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of specific stimulation mode electroacupuncture combined with NGF treatment together with rehabilitation training on patients with ischemic stroke recovery period and to explore the mechanism of this combination therapy to improve brain function, which creates a new method and theoretical basis for nerve rehabilitation of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

Inclusion Criteria:

• people with first-ever ischemic stroke confirmed by CT or/and MRI;
• 14 days to 6 months after stroke onset;
• 50 years≤aged≤80 years;
• 3≤modified Rankin Score (mRS)≤4, and Mini-Mental State Examinations (MMSE)<27;
• Patients can accept treatment with EA and have good compliance;
• Patients have clear consciousness, pain perception and resolution ability to complete basic communication;
• willing to participate and be randomized to one of the groups.

Exclusion Criteria:

• transient ischemic attack, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage and other cerebrovascular diseases;
• severe heart, liver, kidney dysfunction and severe coagulation dysfunction;
• cerebral infarction caused by repeated recurrence of stroke, brain surgery or trauma, and brain tumors;
• severe neurological deficits before stroke, such as visual and auditory impairment, aphasia, agnosia, severe hemiplegia, or affected limb function before stroke, such as cerebral palsy, polio, fracture, and mRs≥1;
• diseases with affecting cognitive function such as congenital dementia, or alcohol, drug or substance abuse;
• lactation, pregnancy or intend to be pregnant within 6 months;
• needlesickness, needle phobia and skin infection at acupuncture site;
• pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator carriers or conductive metallic foreign bodies in the body;
• allergy to NGF;
• currently enrolled in another clinical trial or participation in other clinical trials within the last 3 months.