OBJECTIVE To analyze the effect of the technique of Yang Zhong Yin Yin acupuncture on patients with stroke-associated pneumonia and to provide references for developing rational therapeutic strategies for stroke-associated pneumonia.

METHODS Ninety-eight cases of patients with stroke-associated pneumonia admitted to Huazhong Agricultural University Hospital from Nov. 2020 to Nov. 2023 were included and randomly divided into the experimental and control group by a table of random numbers with 49 cases in each group. They received Yang Zhong Yin Yin acupuncture plus conventional western therapy (the experimental group) or conventional western therapy alone (the control group)for 14 d. The efficacy (after 14 d of treatment), symptom control and clinical relevant scores, inflammation indicators, arterial blood gas analysis parameters, and intestinal flora Bifidobacterium/Escherichia coli (B/E) (before and after 14 d of treatment) of the two groups were compared.

RESULTS The experimental group got high total effective rate (87.76%) when compared with the control group (71.43%) (P=0.045). The times of disappearance of lung rales, cough relief and fever reduction in the experimental group 5.01±0.78) d, (3.69±0.54) d, and (3.99±0.62) d were shorter than those in the control group (5.97±1.04) d, (6.01±1.15) d, and (6.13±1.25) d (P < 0.05). Compared with the pretreatment, the scores of clinical pulmonary infection score (CPIS), national institutes of health stroke scale (NIHSS) and acute physiology and chronic health score Ⅱ (APACHE Ⅱ), levels of serum pro-adrenomedullin (pro-ADM), procalcitonin (PCT), white blood cells (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), whole blood granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO₂) of the two groups after 14 d of treatment decreased (P < 0.05); arterial oxygen saturation (SaO₂), arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO₂) and B/E values increased (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION Yang Zhong Yin Yin acupuncture treatment for patients with stroke-associated pneumonia infection can reduce the infection and inflammation, improve patients′ neurological function and arterial blood gases and regulate the B/E value to balance the intestinal flora of the patients, which can control the symptoms of the patients, improve their prognosis and further enhance the efficacy of the treatment.