[Evaluation and analysis on the methodology of clinical trials of acupuncture treatment of dysphagia due to ischemic stroke].

From the angle of clinical study methodology, the authors of the present paper sum up the related articles on acupuncture treatment of dysphagia caused by ischemic stroke published in the past decade from 1) randomized control trials, 2) non-controlled observation on a group of cases, and 3) case report. The authors point out some defects as lack of description on the random method, lack of united standards for acupoint recipes, acupuncture-needle manipulations, duration of treatment, united and authorized standards for assessing the therapeutic effect, intent-to-treat analysis, etc in the current clinical studies on acupuncture treatment of apoplectic dysphagia, and thus, the rationality and reliability of conclusions about the therapeutic effects of acupuncture for apoplectic dysphagia in many articles are limited. In order to further confirm the effectiveness of acupuncture for dysphagia resulting from ischemic stroke and to provide enough and reliable clinical evidence, it is necessary to adopt the principles and methods of evidence-based medicine to improve our clinical trials and particularly to look for the best model favoring the development of acu-moxibustion study in the coming days.