Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of"Huayu Tongluo"(blood stasis-removing and meridian-collateraldredging)moxibustion for vascular cognitive impairment(VCI)patients and changes of insulin like growth factor-1(IGF-1)levels in serum after the treatment.Methods Sixty patients with VCI were randomly divided into medication(control)and moxibustion groups(n=30 in each group).Cotton cloth-separated moxibustion was applied to Baihui(GV 20)and Shenting(GV 24)

and conventional moxibustion applied to Dazhui(GV 14)and Yongquan(KI 1)for 30 min

once daily

6 times a week and for 30 days.Patients of the control group were treated by oral administration of Donepezil hydrochloride at the dose of 5 mg/night for 30 days.The core symptoms of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)

mini-mental state examination(MMSE)

activity of daily living(ADL)and Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)scales were used to assess the therapeutic effect after the treatment.The content of serum IGF-1 was determined by ELISA.Results Of the two 30 cases in the control and moxibustion groups

9 and 17 experienced marked improvement

13 and were effective

8 and 3 ineffective

with the effective rates being 73.33% and90.00%

respectively.The effective rate in the moxibustion group was obviously higher than that in the control group(P<0.05).After the treatment

the TCM symptom scores were significantly decreased

and the MMSE

ADL and MoCA scores considerably increased in both groups compared with those of their own individual pre-treatment(P<0.01).The TCM symptom score of the moxibustion group was significantly lower

and the MMSE and ADL scores were obviously higher than those of the control group(P<0.01).The serum IGF-1 content in both groups was significantly increased after the treatment relevant to that of their own individual pre-treatment(P<0.01)

and was obviously higher in the moxibustion group than in the control group(P<0.01).No significant difference was found between the two groups in the MoCA score after the treatment(P>0.05).Conclusion "Huayu Tongluo"moxibustion has a positive effect for patients with VCI

which may be associated with its effect in up-regulating serum IGF-1 level.