Effect of Electroacupuncture on the Treatment of Pneumonia in Patients with Hypertensive Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE

Pneumonia is a serious postoperative complication of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH), and there is no specific treatment for pneumonia. In this study, we conducted randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on the treatment of pneumonia in patients with HICH.

METHODS

An equal number of patients with HICH complicated with pneumonia (n = 80 in total) were randomly placed in either the EA group (EA treatment and routine basic treatment) or the control group (routine basic treatment). After 14 days of treatment, clinical symptoms and signs, blood oxygen saturation, the level of inflammatory factors, the effective rate, the scores of the Barthel Index, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and Glasgow Coma Scale, the hospitalization time, and expenses were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

The general information of the patients in the control and EA groups were similar. After 14 days of intervention, the patients in the EA group showed better symptom and sign scores, blood oxygen saturation levels, Barthel Index scores, Glasgow Coma Scale scores, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores than the patients in the control group. Furthermore, the EA treatment also lowered the levels of inflammatory factors and white blood cell count. Additionally, the patients in the EA group showed higher effective rates than those in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

EA benefits the treatment of pneumonia in patients with HICH.