Objective To observe the curative effect of long-time retention of scalp needle in the treatment of vascular dementia(VD) patients

and its influence on P300.Methods Sixty-five cases of VD patients were randomly divided into acupuncture group(n=33) and medication group(n=32).For patients of acupuncture group

Duxil tablets were taken orally

scalp-points Dingzhongxian(MS 5)

Ezhongxian(MS 1) and bilateral Dingpangxian I(MS 8) were punctured separately with the filiform needles retained for 10 h

once daily for 8 weeks.Patients of medication group were asked to take Duxil tablets orally

one tablet/time

twice daily for 8 weeks.Mini-mental state examination(MMSE)

Hastgawa dementia scale(HDS) were used to evaluate the patients' abilities of orientation

calculation

immediate and remote memory and speech.Activity of Daily Living(ADL) Scale was used to evaluate their daily life ability.The latency and amplitude of event-related potential P300 of electroencephalograph(EEG) were analyzed before and after the treatment.Results After the treatment

of the 33 and 32 cases in acupuncture and medication groups

the controlled

markedly effective

effective and ineffective cases were 2 and 1

9 and 4

18 and 16

4 and 11

respectively;with the total effective rates being 87.88% and 68.75% separately.The total effective rate of acupuncture group was obviously higher than that of medication group.Self-comparison showed that MMSE and HDS scores of both acupuncture and medication groups increased significantly in comparison with their individual pre-treatment values(P<0.05

P<0.01)

while ADL of both groups decreased significantly(P<0.05

P<0.01).Before treatment

compared with normal people

the latencies of P300 in two groups increased significantly(P<0.01)

while the amplitudes of two groups decreased significantly(P<0.01).After the treatment

the situations of two groups were corrected apparently(P<0.05).The effects of acupuncture group were significantly superior to those of medication group in MMSE

HDS and ADL scores and the latency of P300(P<0.05).Conclusion Long-term retention of scalp acupuncture needles can improve VD patients' intelligence

ADL ability and EEG.