This study compared real versus sham acupuncture in the treatment of paralysis in acute stroke patients and examined the results in relationship to CT scan lesion sites. Sixteen patients with right-sided paralysis who had suffered left hemisphere ischemic infarction were randomly assigned to receive either twenty real acupuncture treatments or twenty sham acupuncture treatments over a one-month period beginning at 1-3 months post stroke onset. Results indicated that significantly more patients had good response following real acupuncture than sham acupuncture if CT scan lesion site was a variable (p < .013). When there was lesion in half or less than half of the motor pathway areas on CT scan, acupuncture was effective. No patients who received sham acupuncture had good response, whatever the lesion.
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