An innovation scalp acupuncture prescription for post-stroke aphasia: A neuroimaging-based validation study

The coexistence of speech disorders in stroke patients can negatively impact their quality of life and rehabilitation outcomes. Scalp acupuncture (SA) has shown potential as a non-pharmacological treatment for post-stroke aphasia (PSA). As the location of SA in PSA treatment is controversial, this study aims to utilize neuroimaging techniques for identifying and validation the promising target.

The study was divided into two phases. In phase Ⅰ, three pipelines, including lesion mapping, meta-analysis, and resting-state functional connectivity, were integrated for identifying the potential targets. In phase Ⅱ, Centro-square needling manipulations were then applied to evaluate the SA prescription in patients with PSA.

The left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) was chosen as one of the promising targets as it had the highest occurrence among the outcomes of three pipelines. It has been discovered that the Centro-square needling technique applied to the left MTG can immediately enhance the reduced functional connectivity (FC) between the left MTG and the middle frontal gyrus caused by diseases. Moreover, it enhances the FC between the left MTG and the superior temporal gyrus, which may constitute the therapeutic mechanism underlying its efficacy in improving the verb understanding scores on the Chinese Rehabilitation Research Center Standard Aphasia Examination scale.

In summary, the SA protocol integrating traditional Chinese medicine and neuroimaging may help refine the locations for the treatment of PSA.