Objective To observe the clinical effect of acupuncture combined with neck-skin electrical stimulation(NSES)on dysphagia in patients with cerebral infarction(CI).Methods A total of 120 CI patients with dysphagia were randomly divided into acupuncture group

NSES group and acupuncture+NSES group(combined treatment group

n=40in each group).Acupuncture stimulation of Fengchi(GB 20)

Yifeng(TE 17)

etc.

and blood-letting of Jinjin(EX-HN 12)and Yuye(EXHN 13)were administrated.NSES was applied to the bilateral sites of the neck-median line.The treatment was given once daily for two weeks.The swallow function and swallow dysfunction degree of the dysphasia patients were evaluated by water swallow test and food-intake scale

respectively.Results After one week's and two weeks' treatment

the water swallow score and swallow dysfunction score were significantly improved in the acupuncture

NSES and combined treatment groups(P<0.01)

and the difference values between pre-and post-treatment of the water swallow score and swallow ability score in the combined treatment group were obviously higher than those of the acupuncture and NSES groups(P<0.01

P<0.05).No significant differences were found between the acupuncture and NSES groups in both the water swallow score and swallow ability score after one and two weeks' treatment(P>0.05).Of the three 40 cases in the acupuncture

NSES and combined treatment groups

16

18 and 27were basically cured

2

3and 5experienced marked improvement

15

13 and 7were improved

and 7

6and 1failed in the treatment

with the effective rates being 82.5%

85.0% and 97.5%

respectively.The therapeutic effect of the combined treatment group was apparently superior to that of the simple acupuncture and simple NSES groups(P<0.01).Conclusion Acupuncture and NSES intervention is effective in improving dysphasia in CI patients and the effect of combined treatment of acupuncture and NSES is obviously better than that of the simple acupuncture and simple NSES.