Dysphagia Improvement Using Acupuncture Therapy: A Systematic Review

Dysphagia is a common complication in patients with stroke. Although the research on acupuncture treatment of dysphagia has stepped up, the results are still inconsistent. In this review, we intend to answer the potential of acupuncture in treating dysphagia in stroke patients and which acupuncture points are the most promising for treating dysphagia.

We used PRISMA (the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis) 2020 guidelines in conducting this review. A literature search was performed in four databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane, and Willey online library) to find eligible randomized controlled studies that assessed the effect of acupuncture in post-stroke dysphagia. The search time is from 2010 to 2022. Study quality was assessed using the critical appraisal skills program (CASP), and the risk of bias was evaluated by the RoB software, version 2 (risk-of-bias tool). The data were analyzed thematically.

A systematic electronic search identified 1409 publications through forward and backward searching of relevant papers. The full-text screening was conducted on 777 articles. A total of 681 articles failed to meet eligibility criteria at this stage, and only 6 articles were finally eligible for further analysis. The results showed that compared with rehabilitation, acupuncture significantly improved dysphagia in post-stroke patients. Gallbladder (GB) 20 is often used as an acupoint. In addition, the frequency and duration of treatment also contributed to a more significant increase in dysphagia improvement.

Acupuncture could effectively improve dysphagia in post-stroke patients, and acupuncture combined with rehabilitation has a better effect.