Forty-six cases of vertebrobasilar insufficiency treated by acupuncture plus intravenous infusion of ligustrazine.
OBJECTIVE
To observe the therapeutic effect of acupuncture plus Ligustrazine on vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) by transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography.


METHODS
86 VBI patients including 56 cases of low flow rate velocity type (LFVT) and 30 cases of high flow velocity type (HFVT) were randomly divided into Ligustrazine group (26 LFRT and 14 HFVT) and acupuncture plus Ligustrazine group (30 LFVT and 16 HFVT). The blood flow velocity (BFV) of vertebral artery (VA) and basilar artery (BA) in systole before and after treatment was measured with TCD and therapeutic effects were evaluated after 10 days' treatment in the two groups.


RESULTS
In the acupuncture plus Ligustrazine group, the total effective rate was 93.3% and 88.5% in cases of LFVT and HFVT respectively, and BFV of VA and BA increased in LFVT patients while that in HFVT patients decreased significantly (P<0.05 or P<0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Owing to its dual regulation on blood flow of VA and BA, the therapeutic effect of acupuncture plus Ligustrazine was better than that of simple Ligustrazine.
Ge
Qi-xue
QX
Department of Chinese Internal Medicine, People' Hospital ofBeijing University, Beijing 100044, China.
Wu
Yan
Y
Wang
Chun-ling
CL
Wang
Shao-jie
SJ
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001488:Basilar Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011719:Pyrazines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D014715:Vertebrobasilar Insufficiency / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy
D011719:Pyrazines; D014665:Vasodilator Agents; C017953:tetramethylpyrazine