It's All in the Mind! Or is It? Positive Acupuncture Responses in Patients with Dementia: A Series of Case Reports

Abstract

Controversy continues over whether or not there is any real effect from acupuncture over and above that of placebo. However, this series of case studies may provide us with evidence from an unlikely source. Anticipation of clinical benefit is a major element of placebo, and clearly cognition is needed to experience this. This raises the question of how much placebo effect is experienced by a patient with dementia. These cases document reliably witnessed responses to acupuncture in patients with impaired cognition, which have been reproducible and maintained. Given the similarity of responses, it could be argued that these reports provide evidence of a 'real' effect of acupuncture, and raise the possibility of including patients with dementia in formal studies from which they might routinely be excluded.

How Can Acupuncture Be Used in Treating Dementia?

“…Acupuncture has become an option for treating Parkinson's disease [33], Alzheimer's disease [34,35] and dementia [36,37], as supported by Chinese projects since the 1980s [38]. In particular, its effects on vascular dementia have shown improvements in memory, cerebral ischemia, hippocampus function, and synaptic plasticity, in the regulation of vasoactive substances and blood flow in the brain, in the prevention of excessive free radicals, the facilitation of angiogenesis, the inhibition of neuronal apoptosis, and in the modulation of neurotransmitter production, as well as increases in glucose metabolism [39][40][41][42][43][44], and the amelioration of cognitive impairment [45]: albeit Lee and colleagues [46] are hesitant regarding these outcomes.…”