Clinical Study of the Relationship Between Different Interventions for Post-stroke Functional Impairment and Neurotrophic Factors

Stroke is currently the most common disabling disease, which often leads to impairment of sensory, motor, speech and psychological functions, resulting in a reduced quality of life for patients. Therefore, post-stroke functional rehabilitation, especially the rehabilitation of physical function and psychological condition, is particularly important for patients to rejoin society. Acupuncture can promote the functional recovery of patients and facilitate the rehabilitation of limb function, thus improving the quality of survival of post-stroke patients.

Neurotrophic factors are diverse, most of which are mainly derived from neuronal cells in the central nervous system and are involved in a variety of neurological functions such as cell growth, differentiation and plasticity, thus promoting recovery of multiple functions after stroke. Many studies have found that different interventions affect the prognosis of stroke patients differently, e.g., long-term acupuncture increases serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in stroke patients and also has better outcomes than controls in post-stroke neurological recovery and the development of post-stroke psychiatric disorders.

This study investigated the effects of different therapeutic measures on patients' functional recovery and neurotrophic factors by setting up a controlled and blinded trial design, which could not only provide clinical evidence for the effectiveness of relevant therapeutic measures, but also verify the clinical value of certain neurotrophic factors (e.g., predicting outcome, assessing condition, and preventing adverse events).