The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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  • Recent Comments

    Trying to evaluate acupuncture to treat vascular dementia

    Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. The condition is preventable. Therefore, early detection and implementation of effective treatment are important.

    In order to assess the effect of acupuncture on this condition, a broad search for randomized, placebo-controlled studies testing acupuncture to treat vascular dementia was undertaken.

    The studies were identified from a search of the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement group’s Specialized Register, which contained records from all major health care databases and many ongoing trials databases. In addition, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database was searched, and the Internet was searched using the Copernic search engine. Studies of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of vascular dementia were included regardless of language and publication types.

    And the results.
    Although there were more than 105 studies of acupuncture for treating vascular dementia (with benefit reported in up to 70% to 91% of treated patients), there were “no randomized controlled studies, and high quality trials [were] few,” according to the researchers.

    Since they were unable to perform a reanalysis (meta-analysis) of the data, they concluded, “the effectiveness of acupuncture for vascular dementia is uncertain.”

    The bottom line, you ask?
    You mean besides the fact that a decent study is needed?

    Imagine the looks on the faces of the researchers when they came to the realization that after all that searching they would be unable to actually report anything … except that there was nothing to report.

    4/20/07 19:03 JR

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