Background Facial paralysis is a common clinical disease, it was named intractable facial paralysis when the clinical course more than 2 months. Intractable facial paralysis will produce anxiety and depression, which will seriously affect patients’ life and work. Electric acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of intractable facial paralysis. However, the results of clinical studies on the efficacy and safety have been inconsistent. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of electric acupuncture for intractable facial paralysis patients by systematic review and meta-analysis, so as to provide clinical decision-making based on evidence-based medicine. Methods The following databases will be searched by electronic methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Database, Wan-fang Data and Chinese Biomedical Database. All of them will be retrieved from the establishment date of the electronic database to March 2022, all included studies will be evaluated risk of bias by the Cochrane Handbook. The total effective rate will be the primary outcome. The systematic review will be conducted with the use of the RevMan5.3 software in this study. Results This study will obtain efficacy and safety of electric acupuncture for the treatment of intractable facial paralysis. Discussion This study will provide clinical decision-making based on evidence-based medicine that whether electric acupuncture could be used to treat intractable facial paralysis, and when and how it might be more effective and safety. It will help standardize electric acupuncture treatment strategies for intractable facial paralysis. PROSPERO registration number CRD42021278541.

Background: Ischemic stroke is a major chronic noninfectious disease that seriously endangers health. Acupuncture is effective for ischemic stroke and less adverse reactions. However, there is not enough clinical trial data and solid evidence could confirm how acupuncture work to cerebral functional connectivity changes, and whether the changes is related to the different stimulation quantity. Design: This is a multicenter, central-randomized, controlled, double-blind, noninferiority, 2 factors and 3 levels orthogonal clinical trial. A total of 100 participants with ischemic stroke aged from 40 to 80 were randomized into experimental group and control group, the experimental group was divided into 9 groups (A1-A9) according to different factors or levels, and each group have 10 participants. The whole study period is 17 days, including 1 week for baseline observation, 3 days treatment and observation, and 1 week follow-up. Primary outcome is the fMRI based on blood oxygenation level dependent. Secondary outcomes included National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, Modified Barthel Index, Brunnstrom stroke recovery, stroke Chinese medicine symptom. Clinical assessments will be evaluated at before and the 0 hour, 24 hours, 36 hours after treatment, and 1 week follow-up. The primary outcome of the postacupuncture effect were investigated by paired T-test, and the continuous outcome variables will be analyzed with univariate repetitive measurement deviation analysis. Adverse events will be noted and recorded for the safety evaluation. Conclusion: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the central mechanism of acupuncture stimulation quantity using time and frequency as control conditions. This study will provide reasonable stimulation parameters and strong mechanism evidence of cerebral central network for the use of acupuncture for ischemic stroke. CHICTR registration number: ChiCTR1900023169. Registered 15 May 2019.

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Background: Stroke is one of the most common causes of death and is the main cause of persistent and acquired disability in adults worldwide. Acupuncture is recommended as an alternative and complementary strategy for stroke treatment by the World Health Organization as it can significantly improve patients' quality of life. However, the central nervous system (CNS) mechanism of acupuncture treatment of stroke is unclear. The aim of this study is explore the effective pathway and action mechanism of acupuncture treatment for stroke on the CNS.Methods: The following databases will be searched by electronic methods: PubMed; Medline; Embase; Cochrane Library; Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure; VIP Database; Wan-fang Data; Chinese Biomedical Database. All of them will be retrieved from the establishment date of the electronic database to December 2020, all included studies will be evaluated risk of bias by the Cochrane Handbook. Spatial coordinates of the Montreal Neurological Institute of activated brain regions will be the primary outcome. The systematic review will be conducted with the use of SDM v5.141 software for voxel meta-analysis in this study.Results: This study will obtain the correlation between the activated brain regions of acupuncture treatment for stroke.Conclusion: This study will explore the effective pathway and action mechanism of acupuncture, and provide a reliable scientific basis for the treatment of stroke by acupuncture.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021231329.