Acupuncture therapy in a patient with Miller-Fisher syndrome

Miller-Fisher syndrome (MFS) is a clinical syndrome associated with an autoimmune disease that can occur following an infection, which causes damage to the peripheral nerve fibers in nerve cell myelin. MFS is a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome. It typically characterized by three main symptoms: ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia. We present a 55-year-old man with MFS who developed ophthalmoplegia and weakness at the lower extremities, followed by areflexia. He was referred by the neurology department to the acupuncture department. The patient received acupuncture therapy involving a combination of manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture twice a week for 6 weeks. After theraphy, our patient's ophthalmoplegia and ataxia showed some improvement, in the other hand his areflexia still the same as before. From the observation on our patient, we find that acupuncture is a safe and effective adjunctive therapy for the treatment of MFS.