| Abstract |
Objectives : This study was designed to evaluate clinical evidence of acupuncture treatment for peripheral facial palsy in South Korea.
Methods : All process was independently proceeded by two investigators. Literature search was performed in 9 databases from their inception to February 2013. Searched reports was twice excluded for title, abstract and body. And then, data extract and analysis was done before assessing risk of bias by Cochrane Handbook.
Results : 10 randomized controlled trials(RCT) were finally included. 4 RCT handled postauricular pain with facial palsy. All articles at least used in combination with two treatments. Interventions like pharmacopuncture, electroacupuncture, scalp acupuncture etcetera were conducted as treatment to evaluate efficacy, and some study reported advantageous effects of treatment group compared to baseline or control group. Adverse events didn’t referd to in any studies. In assessing risk of bias, indefinite and uncertain information made all included trials to have a high risk of bias.
Conclusions : Because of methodological deficit, there is no sufficient evidence to allow any conclusion about the efficacy of acupuncture for peripheral facial palsy. Therefore, well designed trials with high quality is needed from now on. |
