Objective: To observe the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion for preventing nosocomial infection in the patient with acute cerebrovascular disease.
Methods: One hundred cases of acute cerebrovascular disease were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, 50 cases in each group. The control group were treated by routine therapeutic method without any method for preventing nosocomial infection; the observation group were treated by the routine treatment, with acupuncture and moxibustion added at Guanyuan (GV 4) and Zusanli (ST 36), once daily, for 10 days. The nosocomial infection rate and the abnormal rates of body temperature, WBC and neutrophil were investigated in the two groups.
Results: The nosocomial infection rate was 8.0% in the observation group and 26.0% in the control group with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05), and the abnormal rates of body temperature, WBC and neutrophil in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Acupuncture and moxibustion can effectively prevent nosocomial infection for the patient with acute cerebrovascular disease. The mechanism possibly is related with regulative action of acupuncture and moxibustion on immunity.