[Development of studies on acupuncture treatment of childhood autism]

With the development of autism therapy, acupuncture, an alternative therapy, is becoming popular for autism children. There have been many papers found about the treatment of autism by acupuncture therapy so far. In the present review, the authors briefly introduce the theoretical basis of autism in traditional Chinese medicine and the application history, and sum up the acupoint prescriptions, effectiveness as well as the assessment tools of acupuncture therapy for autism. It is suggested that acupuncture therapy is a relatively effective therapy for autism children. It has positive roles in improving autistic syndromes without any side-effects, especially in improving language development, daily-life self-care, and social communications. The underlying mechanism of this therapy may be explained by acupuncture intervention induced favorable changes of neurochemistry, cerebral blood flow, and cerebral functional activities. Although there are lots of questions to be answered about acupuncture treatment of autism, we hold a positive opinion that this therapy might be a green effective therapy for autistic children in the future.