[Observation of clinical effect of acupuncture on vascular dementia and its influence on superoxide dismutase, lipid peroxide and nitric oxide].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of electroacupuncture and acupuncture on vascular dementia (VaD) and the influence on superoxide dismutase (SOD), lipid peroxide (LPO) and nitric oxide (NO) levels. METHODS: Forty-six cases of VaD were randomly divided into two groups, the electroacupuncture group (EA group) and the acupuncture group (AP group). Assessment of Hasgawa's dementia scale (HDS), functional activities questionnaire (FAQ) and neurologic deficit scoring were done before and after treatment, and the changes on SOD, LPO and NO levels were observed. RESULTS: After treatment, in the EA group, the HDS elevated, the FAQ lowered, SOD increased and LPO and NO decreased significantly, as compared with before treatment, P < 0.01. But these parameters were not changed significantly in the AP group after treatment. The clinical symptoms were improved in both groups, but the reduction on neurologic deficit score was not significant. The total effective rate of the EA group was higher than that of the AP group. CONCLUSION: The immediate effect of electroacupuncture was superior to that of acupuncture, suggesting that the electroacupuncture was more effective in promoting the intelligence recovery than acupuncture.