Effects of moxibustion on motor function and corticospinal tract in the patients with motor dysfunction during the recovery period of cerebral infarction.

Objectives: To observe the effects of moxibustion (moxibustion therapy for unblocking and treating stroke) on the motor function and the structure of corticospinal tract (CST) in the patients with motor dysfunction during the recovery period of cerebral infarction, and to explore the central mechanism of this moxibustion therapy for improving the motor function.

Methods: Fifty patients with motor dysfunction during the recovery period of cerebral infarction were randomly divided into an observation group (25 cases, 1 case dropped out) and a control group (25 cases, 1 case dropped out). The patients in both groups underwent the conventional basic treatment. In the control group, acupuncture was applied to Baihui (GV 20) and Shuigou (GV 26), as well as Chize (LU 5), Neiguan (PC 6), Weizhong (BL 40) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) etc. on the affected side. Besides the intervention of the control group, in the observation group, moxibustion therapy was combined at Baihui (GV 20), Shenque (CV 8) and bilateral Zusanli (ST 36). Both acupuncture and moxibustion therapies were delivered once daily, 5 times a week, for 2 weeks. The scores of Fugl-Meyer assessment scale (FMA) and National Institutes of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) were compared between the two groups before and after treatment. The diffusion tensor imaging technique was used to observe the fractional anisotropy (FA) of CST at the bilateral whole segment, the cerebral cortex, the posterior limb of the internal capsule and the cerebral peduncle before and after treatment in the two groups.

Results: The scores of the upper and the lower limbs of FMA, as well as the total FMA score swere increased after treatment when compared with those before treatment in the two groups (0.05), the upper limb FMA score and the total FMA score in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (<0.05), and NIHSS scores of the two groups were dropped compared with those before treatment (<0.01). FA of CST at the bilateral sides of the posterior limb of the internal capsule and the whole segment on the focal side was improved in comparison with that before treatment in the observation group (0.05), and FA of CST at the healthy side of the whole segment was higher than that before treatment in the control group (0.05).

Conclusions: moxibustion improves motor function and reduces neurological deficits in the patients with motor dysfunction during the recovery period of cerebral infarction, which may be related to enhancing the remodeling of white matter fiber bundles in the corticospinal tract on the focal side of the whole segment and the bilateral posterior limb of the internal capsule.