Review Article

Eye Acupuncture Treatment for Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristic of all included trials.

Study ID Study typeSample size
(T/C, male/female)
Age
(yr, T/C)
Ischemic or hemorrhagicIntervention Duration Area of eye acupuncture intervention Prick
depth
Outcomes
Eye acupuncture interventionControl intervention

Wang et al. (2008)
[9]
RCTT: 60 (32/28)
C: 60 (29/31)
T: 66
(42~70)
C: 64
(41~70)
Ischemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() Shuxuening injection (extract of Ginkgo)
() Citicoline Injection
() low-dose aspirin
14 daysMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao
Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, spleen, and heart
NACSS; FIB

Zhou et al.
(2011)
[10]
RCTT: 60 (46/16)
C: 60 (42/18)
NAIschemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() Sodium Ozagrel injection
() Citicoline injection
() Low-dose aspirin
15 daysMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, spleen, and heart2 mm along the cavity orbitalNDS; ET; CGRP

Liu (2010)
[11]
Q-RCTT: 28
C: 28
NAIschemic () Eye acupuncture
() Buyang Huanwu Decoction
Buyang Huanwu decoction3 weeksMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao, spleen, and heartNACSS

Pang
(2006)
[12]
RCTT: 34
C: 34
T:
(40~70)
C:
(40~70)
Ischemic and hemorrhagic () Eye acupuncture
() Rehabilitation training
() Basic treatment: medicine was not available
() Rehabilitation training
() Basic treatment: medicine was not available
>38 daysMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao
Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, and heart
9~10.5 mm in orbitADL

Cui (2009)
[13]
RCTT: 8 (5/3)
C: 10 (6/4)
T: 51.31 ± 13.25
(40~75)
C:
51.59 ± 12.89
(40~75)
Ischemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() Sodium Ozagrel injection
() Citicoline injection
() Low-dose Aspirin
2 weeksMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao
Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, heart, spleen, and large intestine
3 mm along the cavity orbitalCSS; ET; CGRP

Li (2010)
[14]
RCTT: 23 (12/11)
C: 25 (13/12)
T: 52.29 ± 14.89 (40~75)
C:
52.46 ± 13.35 (40~75)
Ischemic() Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() Sodium Ozagrel injection
() Citicoline injection
() Low-dose dose aspirin
2 weeksMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao
Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, heart, spleen, and large intestine
2 mm along the cavity orbitalCSS;
ET;
CGRP

Wang et al. (2007)
[15]
RCTT: 45 (24/21)
C: 45 (26/19)
T: 63.24
(40~70)
C: 64.98
(43~70)
Ischemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() Shuxuening injection
() Citicoline injection
() Low-dose aspirin
14 daysMain eye acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao
Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, heart, spleen, and stomach
NACSS; CRP

Li and Wang (2009)
[16]
RCTT: 50
C: 50
T:
(42~75)
C:
(42~75)
Ischemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment: medicine was not available
Basic treatment: medicine was not available2 weeksMajor acupoints: upper jiao7.5 mm in orbitWST

Chen et al. (2007)
[17]
RCTT: 40 (24/16)
C: 40 (22/18)
T:
68.1 ± 8.2
(40~80)
C:
67.3 ± 11.1
(40~80)
Ischemic () Eye acupuncture
() Rehabilitation training based on the Bobath
(3) Basic treatment
() Rehabilitation training based on the Bobath
() Basic treatment
(a) t-PA
(b) Aspirin
(c) Mannitol injection
3 monthsMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao.
Minor acupoints: liver, gallbladder, kidney, heart, spleen, and middle jiao
NASSS; ADL;
FMA

Li
(2009)
[18]
RCTT: 25
C: 25
T: (50~75)
C: (50~75)
Ischemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment: medicine was not available
Basic treatment: medicine was not available2 weeksMajor acupoints: upper jiao, kidney, and spleen7.5 mm in orbitMMSE

Xi
(2011)
[19]
Q-RCTT: 30 (16/14)
C: 30 (18/12)
T:
(35~75)
C:
(35~75)
Ischemic and hemorrhagic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment: medicine was not available
() Rehabilitation training: methods were not available
() Basic treatment: medicine was not available
() Rehabilitation training: methods were not available
7 daysMajor acupoints: lower jiao, lung, and spleenNAFirst defecation time; constipation symptoms evaluation

Jiang (2009)
[20]
RCTT: 30
C: 30
T:
(40~70)
C:
(40~70)
Ischemic and hemorrhagic () Eye acupuncture
() Rehabilitation training
Rehabilitation training48 daysMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao, kidney, and liver2 mm along the cavity orbitalCSS

Ren and Lin (2005)
[21]
Q-RCTT: 30 (21/9)
C: 28 (20/8)
T: 54
(32~78)
C: 53
(37~83)
Ischemic and hemorrhagic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() 20% mannitol
() Cerebrolysin
() Huatuo Zaizao pill
() Hemorrghagic: PAMBA Nimodipine Nifedipine
() Ischemic: Low molecular dextran
ATP Cytochrome C for injection Dicoumarin Nimodipine
Aspirin
30 daysMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao
Minor acupoints: liver, gallbladder, kidney, and heart
2 mm along the cavity orbitalTreatment efficiency

Gao (2012)
[22]
RCTT: 30 (18/12)
C: 30 (20/10)
NAIschemic () Eye acupuncture
() Basic treatment
Basic treatment
() Aspirin or Clopidogrel
Other medicines were not available
14 daysMajor acupoints: liver, gallbladder, kidney, and heart.Minor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao, heart, spleen, stomach, large intestine, and bladder2 mm along the cavity orbitalADL; CSS

Huang (2013)
[23]
RCTT: 80 (43/37)
C: 76 (40/36)
T:
61.10 ± 10.12
(40~76)
C: 55.72 ± 9.02
(40~76)
Ischemic and hemorrhagic () Eye acupuncture
() Neurostan
Neurostan8 weeksMajor acupoints: liver, middle jiao, heart Minor acupoints: kidney, spleen, and gallbladder2 mm along the cavity orbitalHAMD

Xu et al.
(2006)
[24]
RCTT: 34 (18/16)
C: 26 (16/10)
T: 62.5 ± 17.5
C: 64.2 ± 7.7
IschemicEye acupunctureBasic treatment: the medicine might be Xingding injection, compound danshen injection, and Deproteinized calf blood injection 22 daysMajor acupoints: upper jiao, lower jiao Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, and heartNAET

Dong
(2009)
[25]
RCTT: 38 (20/18)
C: 34 (18/16)
T: 63.2 ± 12.5
C: 65.1 ± 8.6
IschemicEye acupunctureBasic treatment: the medicine might be Deproteinized calf blood injection, Shuxuening injection (extract of Ginkgo), Sanqi Panax Notoginseng injection7 daysMajor acupoints: upper Jiao, lower Jiao. Minor acupoints: liver, kidney, and heartNAVEGF

Notes: () ADL: Activities of Daily Living. () CGRP: calcitonin gene related peptide. () CRP: C-reactive protein. () CSS: Chinese Stroke Scale. () ET: endothelin. () FIB: fibrinogen. () FMA: Fugl-Meyer Scale. () HAMD: Hamilton Depression Scale. () MMSE: Mini-Mental State Examination. () SSS: Scandinavian Stroke Scale. () NDS: clinic neurological function deficit scale. () VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor.