Objective To observe the effect of electroacupuncture(EA) in the treatment of vascular dementia(VD) so as to explore an effective therapy for it.Methods Sixty cases of VD were randomly divided into acupuncture group and medication(Duxil

40 mg/time

2 times/d for 10 weeks) group

with 30 cases in each group."Xiusanzhen" means that two acupuncture needles were penetrated subcutaneously from bilateral Yingxiang(LI 20) to Shangyingxiang(EX-HN 8) respectively

and the 3rd needle was penetrated from the midpoint between two Yangbai(GB 14) through Yintang(EX-HN 3) to the nasal root

followed by applying EA stimulation to the acupoints.Hasegawa's Dementia Scale(HDS)

Mini-mental state examination(MMSE)

and Functional Activities Questionnaire(FAQ) were used for assessment of the VD patient's state before and after the treatment.Results After the treatment

the total effective rates of acupuncture and medication groups were 80.00% and 73.33% respectively.The effective rate of acupuncture group was significantly superior to that of medication group(P<0.05).Before treatment

scores of HDS

MMSE and FAQ in both groups had no significant differences(P>0.05);after the treatment

the scores of HDS and MMSE increased significantly

and that of FAQ decreased remarkably in both groups(P<0.01)

and the difference of scores(or absolute value of FAQ) between post-treatment and pre-treatment in EA group was obviously higher than that in medication group(P<0.05).Conclusion Acupuncture of "Xiusanzhen" is effective in the treatment of VD patients.