ArticleFrontiers in medicine2026
Warm acupuncture combined with precise meridian sinew needling for refractory peripheral facial paralysis: a propensity score-matched retrospective study on clinical efficacy and infrared thermal imaging.
Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Background: Refractory peripheral facial paralysis (RPFP) affects 15%-20% of patients with facial palsy, leading to poor recovery and reduced quality of life. Current treatments yield limited efficacy, and objective evidence for acupuncture-based therapies remains scarce. Methods: We addressed this gap by conducting a propensity score-matched retrospective study in 166 RPFP patients (H-B grade ≥ III, duration ≥ 3 months). Patients were divided into an observation group (warm acupuncture plus precise meridian sinew needling, Results: The observation group showed significantly higher cure rate (59.04% vs. 43.37%, Conclusion: In this propensity score-matched retrospective study, warm acupuncture combined with precise meridian sinew needling was associated with better short-term clinical, functional, and facial thermal-symmetry outcomes than conventional acupuncture. Infrared thermography quantified surface-temperature asymmetry but did not directly measure blood flow. Prospective multicentre studies with longer follow-up are needed to confirm these findings.
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