Stroke is an important disease leading to death and disability of our nationals, causing a great economic burden to society and families. Limb motor dysfunction is a common complication after stroke, which seriously affects the recovery process of patients, and more effective treatments are still being searched for in clinical practice. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), as a well-established neuromodulation technique, has been mainly applied to the treatment of refractory epilepsy, refractory depression and other brain diseases. In recent years, it has been found that VNS can be applied to limb movement rehabilitation in stroke patients. Percutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (t-VNS) is more easily accepted by patients because of its non-invasiveness and economy, therefore, clinical trials and basic research on t-VNS for limb movement disorders after stroke have been gradually carried out at home and abroad. Although percutaneous vagus nerve stimulation and traditional Chinese medicine auricular acupoint therapy belong to different systems, they have similarities in the treatment of stroke, and the theory of vagus nerve stimulation may provide a new idea for traditional auricular acupoints. In this study, we will summarise the clinical studies on percutaneous vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of post-stroke limb disorders in the past few years, and combine it with the theory of traditional Chinese medicine auricular acupoints to explore its therapeutic mechanism.

Huixin Guo, Tongsheng Su. Exploring the Mechanism of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation for the Treatment of Post-Stroke Dyskinesia in Conjunction with Traditional Chinese Medicine Auricular Acupuncture Points. International Journal of Frontiers in Medicine (2023), Vol. 5, Issue 9: 24-29. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJFM.2023.050905.

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