Acupuncture and Multiple Sclerosis: A Review of the Evidence

Table 1

Study	Purpose	Design	Subjects
Donnellan and Sharley (2008) [12]	To compare the effect of two types of acupuncture on the quality of life of individuals with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and provide preliminary evidence regarding the safety of this intervention for this population.	RCT	𝑁=14; secondary progressive MS
Spoerel et al. (1974) [13]	Evaluate the success of application of acupuncture on MS.	Case study series (8 patients)	𝑛=8
Hao et al. (2013) [14]	Assess Chinese scalp acupuncture effectiveness for MS.	Case study	𝑛=1; 65-year-old male; MS for 20 years
Tjon Eng Soe et al. (2009) [15]	Assess whether electroacupuncture diminishes voiding symptoms and improves QoL in MS patients with overactive bladder.	Nonrandomized noncontrol pretest/posttest	𝑛=10; 9 males and 1 female; 6 SPMS and 3 RRMS. EDSS: 2.0–6.5, and 6 with a score of 6.0
Quispe-Cabanillas et al. (2012) [16]	Evaluate the effect of the use of acupuncture on QoL of patients with RRMS undergoing treatment with immunomodulators.	Double-blind RCT	𝑛=31; RRMS, undergoing treatment with immunomodulators randomly distributed into sex-stratified experimental and placebo groups
McGuire (2003) [18]	Examine effect of acupuncture on fatigue in a patient with MS.	Case study	𝑛=1; 50-year-old female
Foroughipour et al. (2013) [19]	Evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in fatigue in patients with MS whose symptoms are resistant to conventional drug therapies.	Case series; pretest/ posttest	𝑛=20; individuals with MS nonresponsive to 2 months of Amantadine treatment (FSS did not drop below 30); mean FSS: 48 ± 8.6; mean age: 33.85 ± 10.85 years; 75% of women, EDSS > 4
Foell (2011) [20]	Highlight a single case of “off-label” use of acupuncture and its effects on symptoms.	Case report	𝑛=1; 25-year-old male with RRMS for 9 years
Miller (1996) [23]	Evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture in MS spasticity.	Nonrandomized, control group and single-blind ABA	𝑛=4; 4 women with MS: 2 ambulatory and 2 nonambulatory; 38–54 years old; all receiving medication, physiotherapy, and hydrotherapy to varying degrees
Kopsky and Hesselink (2012) [25]	Assess a multimodal approach for MS acupuncture + PEA.	Case study	𝑛=1; 61-year-old; chronic central neuropathic pain
Tajik et al. (2012) [26]	To evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain and fatigue in patients with MS.	Case series; pretest/ posttest	𝑛=49; MS diagnosis, referred to alternative medicine
Liu et al. (2010) [27]	To examine whether electroacupuncture could provide protection against experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE) in a rat model for MS. In addition, to assess the effects of acupuncture on EAE CD4+ Th cell profiles.	Pretest/posttest with 4 treatment groups	8-week-old female Lewis rats
Huang et al. (2011) [28]	To analyze if governor vessel (GV) electroacupuncture (EA) could efficiently promote increase in cell number and differentiation of OPCs into oligodendrocytes, remyelination, and functional recovery in the demyelinated spinal cord.	Animal (rat), randomized group assignment (6)	𝑁=70; dorsal laminectomies were performed at the T9/T10 level; ethidium bromide (EB) was injected to induce demyelination in the EB injection group
Liu et al. (2013) [29]	To characterize the effects of electroacupuncture on rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.	Pretest/posttest with 4 treatment groups	8-week-old female Lewis rats