Horibe Go, Yamaguchi Satoru, Kouchi Ai, Ibata Shintaro, Yamamoto Toshimasa
Department of Oriental Medicine, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, JPN.
Department of Oriental Medicine, Saitama Medical University Kawagoe Clinic, Saitama, JPN.
Cureus. 2024 Feb 29;16(2):e55219. doi: 10.7759/cureus.55219. eCollection 2024 Feb.
The efficacy and optimal frequency of acupuncture for hemifacial spasms (HFSs) in patients unresponsive or averse to standard treatment methods remains unestablished. Here, we administered acupuncture to a patient with HFSs who was dissatisfied with the outcomes of botulinum toxin (BoNT) injections as symptomatic treatment. A man in his 60s, experiencing frequent spasms in his left facial muscles since 2015, had received several BoNT injections without receiving microvascular decompression or medication; however, the treatment results were not satisfactory. In 2020, he visited our clinic for acupuncture. His entire face twitched involuntarily, and the other Babinski sign was observed. The spasm severity was 5 on the numerical rating scale (NRS). Acupuncture was performed on the gallbladder meridian (GB) 2, stomach meridian (ST) 7, and triple energizer meridian(TE) 17 along the facial nerve and GB14, GB1, small intestine meridian (SI) 18, ST4, ST5, and ST9 on the affected (left) side. In the fourth session, 1 Hz electroacupuncture at ST7 and TE17 reduced the NRS score to 1. As his spasms were well managed, we initially continued with biweekly acupuncture sessions. However, by the 10th session, a worsening of symptoms led to a revert to weekly treatment, which maintained a decreased NRS score until the 21st session. Our findings suggest that weekly acupuncture may be a viable treatment modality for patients with HFSs unresponsive or averse to conventional treatments. Future prospective clinical trials are required to verify the efficacy of acupuncture for HFSs.
对于对标准治疗方法无反应或不愿接受标准治疗方法的面肌痉挛（HFS）患者，针灸的疗效和最佳频率尚未确定。在此，我们对一名对肉毒杆菌毒素（BoNT）注射作为对症治疗的效果不满意的HFS患者进行了针灸治疗。一名60多岁的男性，自2015年以来左侧面部肌肉频繁痉挛，在未接受微血管减压或药物治疗的情况下接受了几次BoNT注射；然而，治疗效果并不令人满意。2020年，他到我们诊所接受针灸治疗。他的整个面部不由自主地抽搐，并且观察到了巴宾斯基征阳性。痉挛严重程度在数字评分量表（NRS）上为5分。沿着面神经在胆经（GB）2、胃经（ST）7和三焦经（TE）17以及患侧（左侧）的GB14、GB1、小肠经（SI）18、ST4、ST5和ST9进行针灸。在第四次治疗中，在ST7和TE17处进行1赫兹的电针治疗使NRS评分降至1分。由于他的痉挛得到了良好控制，我们最初继续每两周进行一次针灸治疗。然而，到第10次治疗时，症状恶化导致恢复为每周治疗，这种治疗使NRS评分持续降低，直到第21次治疗。我们的研究结果表明，对于对传统治疗无反应或不愿接受传统治疗的HFS患者，每周针灸可能是一种可行的治疗方式。未来需要进行前瞻性临床试验来验证针灸治疗HFS的疗效。
