Objective To investigate the clinical effect of electroacupuncture at Baihui(GV20) and Shuigou(GV26) points in the treatment of brain injury in patients with sepsis-associated encephalopathy(SAE). Methods A total of 70 patients with SAE were randomly divided into control group and treatment group

with 35 patients in each group. The patients in the control group were given routine western medicine treatment

including anti-infective therapy

nerve nutrition

and mechanical ventilation

and those in the treatment group were given electroacupuncture at GV20 and GV26 in addition to the treatment in the control group. The course of treatment was 1 week for both groups. Serum levels of C-reactive protein(CRP)

interleukin-6(IL-6)

and neuron-specific enolase(NSE) were measured for both groups

the Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA) scale was used to assess the change in cognitive function

and Glasgow Coma Scale(GCS) score was determined before and after treatment and was used to evaluate treatment outcome after treatment. Results Both groups had significant reductions in the serum levels of CRP

IL-6

and NSE after 24 h and one week of treatment(P<0.05)

and compared with the control group

the treatment group had significant reductions in the levels of CRP

IL-6 and NSE after treatment(P<0.05). The treatment group had significant increases in the total score of MoCA and the scores of all dimensions except attention after one week of treatment(P<0.05)

and the treatment group had significantly higher scores than the control group after treatment(P<0.05). Both groups had a significant increase in GCS score after one week of treatment(P<0.05)

and the treatment group had a significantly higher GCS score than the control group after treatment(P<0.05). The treatment group had a significantly higher total effective rate than the control group [88.6%(31/35) vs 57.1%(20/35)

P<0.05]. Conclusion Electroacupuncture at GV20 and GV26 can effectively improve brain injury and effective rate in SAE patients.