Clinical practice guidelines of Korean medicine for facial palsy: An evidence-based approach

IntroductionFacial palsy is a common disease, and Korean medicine (KM) is widely used to treat facial palsy in Korea. However, there are no Korean multidisciplinary guidelines for facial palsy; thus, guidelines that are adequate for domestic circumstances are required.MethodsTo establish clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), professional group formation, plans for research progress and the situation regarding CPG development were analysed. Subsequently, data from the Korean and Western medical literature regarding the CPGs for facial palsy were collected and analysed. A draft of the Korean medicine CPGs for facial palsy was then developed. After review and amendment of the guidelines by a review committee, the Korean acupuncture and moxibustion medicine society reviewed and approved the guidelines.ResultsIn total, 24 recommendations were developed for the KM treatment of facial palsy. Six of the recommendations were primarily related to manual acupuncture and treatment methods. The other recommendations were related to electroacupuncture, thread embedding and other acupuncture techniques.ConclusionThe result of this project suggests a methodology to develop CPGs that is suitable for our environment of KM but that it lacks supporting evidence; in turn, this methodology will lead to the production of evidence and recommendations for patient care in actual KM clinical settings.