Effect of Transcutaneous Acupoint Electrical Stimulation (TAES) on Sometosensory Evoked Potential (SEP) of Stroke Subjects

Objective: To compare the effect of two stimulating methods with transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation(TAES) on somatosensory evoked potential(SEP) of stroke subjects.Methods: Twenty-four cases of stroke were randomly divided into two groups according to hospital admission.One group received TAES treatment on the affected upper limb.The other group received TAES treatment on bilateral upper limbs.Treatment lasted for 30 min.SEP was examined on each subject before and after TAES treatment.The amplitude and latency of N9 and N20 of the upper limbs for subjects in two groups were recorded respectively.Results: There is a significant change in the amplitude and latency of N9 and N20 between two groups before treatment and no significant change in the amplitude and latency of N9 and N20 between two groups after treatment.Both groups showed that the amplitude is larger and latency is shorter on N9 and N20 after treatment.Furthermore,the percentage of changes in bilateral upper limbs group was much larger than that in the affected upper limb group,and there was significant different between 2 groups(P0.05).Conclusion: Both methods of stimulation with TAES are reliable but the bilateral upper limbs group is more sensitive to the stimulation than the affected upper limb group.