Acupuncture in Medicine最新文献

{"title":"Effects of electroacupuncture on carpal tunnel syndrome: a clinical, electrophysiological and ultrasonographical pilot study.","authors":"Aikaterini Maria Ntoutsouli, George Georgoudis, Apostolos Papapostolou, Miltiades Karavis, Dimos David Petrou, Athina Vadalouca, Kassiani Theodoraki","doi":"10.1177/09645284251363989","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251363989","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common compressive neuropathy and is associated with significant strain on both patients and healthcare systems. Acupuncture is one of the conservative treatments used for this syndrome, although more evidence is needed regarding the efficacy of this intervention. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) in patients with CTS through clinical, electrophysiological and ultrasonographical assessments.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Seventeen wrists, belonging to a total of 12 patients who had been diagnosed with CTS, were included. Eight EA sessions were performed (twice a week for 4 weeks). The visual analogue scale (VAS), symptom severity scale (SSS) and functional status scale (FSS) of the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire (BCTQ) were administered, median nerve conduction studies were performed and the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the median nerve was measured by ultrasound. These evaluations were made at baseline and 3-7 days after the last treatment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Following EA, there was a decrease in pain on the VAS scale with a median difference (MD) of -2.45 (p < 0.001), a decrease in the severity of symptoms on the SSS scale (MD -0.60; p = 0.001) and an improvement in the function of the limb on the FSS scale (MD -0.25; p = 0.02). Furthermore, there was a reduction in the CSA of the median nerve at the carpal tunnel inlet (MD -2.00 mm²; p = 0.003). No differences in any median nerve conduction study parameters were found. Side effects (observed in 8% of treatments) were all minimal and self-limiting.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Although no firm conclusions can be drawn from this uncontrolled clinical trial, EA appears to be a promising treatment for CTS patients, and herein was associated with an improvement in symptoms and morphological changes in the median nerve.</p><p><strong>Trial registration number: </strong>NCT04603274 (ClinicalTrials.gov).</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"198-207"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144783229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Acupuncture for lateral epicondylitis with skin degeneration after steroid injection: a case report.","authors":"Sukjin Huh, Na-Yeon Ha, Haein Jeong, Jae-Woo Park, Jinsung Kim, Seok-Jae Ko","doi":"10.1177/09645284251342255","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251342255","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"233-235"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144085639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Total remission of primary hyperhidrosis following ear acupuncture: a case report.","authors":"Konstantinos Georgiadis, Giorgos Tzigkounakis","doi":"10.1177/09645284251365645","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251365645","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"236-238"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144774491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electroacupuncture treatment for post-stroke oropharyngeal dysphagia: a randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Xing-Yu Kang, Cheng-Fei Gao, Leng-Qiu Guo, Qing Kong, Tao Zhou, Hong Zhang, Yi-Ling Wu, Zhuang-Li Guo","doi":"10.1177/09645284251365647","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251365647","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Dysphagia is a common complication after stroke and can negatively affect patients' quality of life. Despite electroacupuncture (EA) being widely used to treat dysphagia, its effectiveness and underlying mechanism of action have not been thoroughly examined. The aim of this study was to gather preliminary data on the efficacy of EA when used as an adjunct to a standardized but individually adjusted rehabilitation program for patients with post-stroke oropharyngeal dysphagia (PSOD) and to compare EA with adjunctive neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Forty-five patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to EA, NMES or control groups. All groups received traditional rehabilitation training for dysphagia. The EA and NMES group additionally received EA at bilateral <i>Jialianquan</i> and NMES of the suprahyoid muscle group, respectively. Before and 3 weeks after treatment, the swallowing function of the patients was assessed by surface electromyography (sEMG), videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS), standardized swallowing assessment (SSA) and water swallow test (primary outcomes). Post hoc secondary outcome measures included the functional oral intake scale (FOIS), penetration-aspiration scale (PAS) and deglutition duration.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>All outcome measures improved within each group. When compared to the control group, greater improvements were seen in the EA group for SSA, FOIS, modified barium swallow impairment profile (MBSImp) and PAS scores, as well as several different sEMG parameters (average EMG (AEMG), peak amplitude and deglutition duration for both saliva and water) in PSOD patients. Only deglutition duration for water and saliva was significantly improved in NMES versus control groups. EA was superior to NMES only with respect to the AEMG for water and saliva.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study provides preliminary evidence demonstrating that PSOD patients may benefit from EA at bilateral <i>Jialianquan</i>. Relative to a control group receiving traditional rehabilitation alone, the addition of EA was associated with improvements in a range of different outcome measures in PSOD patients, with medium to large effect sizes.<b>Trial registration number:</b> ChiCTR2200058198 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry).</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"187-197"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144783230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electroacupuncture attenuates bone erosion and promotes macrophage polarization in a mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis.","authors":"Shi-Ying Dong, Ying Zhou, Xiao-Chi Wang, Zhong-Heng Du, Tian-Shen Ye","doi":"10.1177/09645284251331991","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251331991","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on macrophage polarization and bone erosion in a mouse model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>C57BL/B6 mice were used to establish a CIA model and were treated with electroacupuncture (EA) at ST36 and SP6. At the end of the experiment, knee joints were harvested for hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining to detect knee synovitis. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to assess the expression of macrophage markers. The degree of bone destruction was evaluated using micro-computed tomography (CT), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining and safranin-O fast green staining. Peripheral blood transcriptome sequencing was performed using Illumina high-throughput sequencing. Synovial membrane proteins were quantitatively analyzed by mass spectrometry. Differentially expressed genes and proteins were identified and the R software package was used to analyze the data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared with the model group, the arthritis index (<i>P</i> < 0.05) and inflammatory infiltration decreased (<i>P</i> < 0.05), cartilage destruction was inhibited (<i>P</i> < 0.01), the number of osteoclasts decreased (<i>P</i> < 0.05), knee bone erosion was alleviated and the M1/M2 macrophage ratio decreased (<i>P</i> < 0.01) in the EA group. The results of bioinformatics analysis showed that the differential genes between the EA and model groups were mainly enriched in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway. Differentially expressed proteins were mostly enriched in the toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling and autophagy pathways.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>EA prevents bone erosion, reduces the M1/M2 macrophage ratio in synovial tissue, inhibits the TLR and autophagy pathways and reduces synovial invasion in a mouse model of CIA.</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"150-163"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143956859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effectiveness of an immediate postoperative electroacupuncture session for the recovery of gastrointestinal function after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Qing Li, Tao Larissa, He Liu, Wei-Dong Shen, Wa Cai","doi":"10.1177/09645284251343914","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251343914","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The objective of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of one session of electroacupuncture (EA) in the immediate postoperative period for the recovery of gastrointestinal function after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A randomized, assessor-blinded controlled trial was conducted from October 2022 to March 2023 with 1:1 allocation to the intervention group and the control group. Eighty-four patients with benign gallbladder disease based on conventional diagnostic criteria were randomly assigned to one of the two different groups. The intervention group received a 30 min EA treatment at LI4, PC6, ST36 and LR3 (2/100 Hz frequency, 1 mA average intensity) that was given immediately after surgery. All patients received standard perioperative management based on an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol. Time to first flatus was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included time to first defecation and first normal bowel sound, as well as evaluation of abdominal distension/pain and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The intervention group had a shorter time to first flatus and time to first normal bowel sound. They also had a lower overall incidence of postoperative abdominal distension, pain and PONV over the first 24 h. The degree/grading of abdominal distension was also lower at 12 h and that of abdominal pain and PONV was lower at both 12 and 24 h postoperatively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>One session of EA immediately after surgery may reduce the incidence and severity of postoperative gastrointestinal dysfunction (POGD).</p><p><strong>Trial registration number: </strong>ChiCTR2200064748 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry).</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"127-136"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144148806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electroacupuncture ameliorates cartilage damage in a rat model of knee osteoarthritis and regulates expression of miRNAs and the TLR4/NF-κB pathway.","authors":"Zhenzhen Wang, Xiahai Zheng, Jing Lin, Bin Zhou, Zhenming Zeng, Haiwei Gao, Haoxiong Chen, Chunzhi Tang","doi":"10.1177/09645284251342259","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251342259","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to be effective in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA); however, its underlying mechanism remains unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>40 KOA model rats were divided into control, untreated model, EA-treated model and celecoxib-treated model groups (n=10 each). Articular cartilage of the knee joint was stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE), periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and Alcian blue (AB)-PAS, and Moran/Mankin scores were used to evaluate articular cartilage injury across groups. Moreover, toll-like receptor (TLR)4/nuclear factor (NF)-κB pathway (TN-P)-related protein levels in the articular cartilage were detected using Western blotting. Oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers in the synovial fluid were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). MicroRNA (miRNA/miR) expression was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared with the control group, Moran scores increased and Mankin scores decreased in the KOA model rats. In addition, compared with those in the control group, levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) and interleukin (IL)-10 were significantly decreased, while levels of IL-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) were significantly increased, in the synovial fluid of the KOA model group. Protein levels of TLR4, anti-myeloid differentiation primary response protein 88 (MyD88) and p65 NF-κB phosphorylation were significantly increased in the articular cartilage of the KOA model group. EA and celecoxib treatment reversed the trends of these protein levels. Moreover, expression of miR-15a/127/140/146a/216a-5p and miR-27a-3p in the articular cartilage were markedly increased in KOA rats, while EA and celecoxib treatment reduced their expression.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>EA reduces inflammation, oxidative stress and cartilage damage in KOA model rats, likely through regulation of the miRNA/TLR4/NF-κB pathway.</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"164-173"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144101066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Connecting the dots: exploring common brain mechanisms of acupuncture across diseases.","authors":"Beomku Kang, Da-Eun Yoon, Yeonhee Ryu, In-Seon Lee, Younbyoung Chae","doi":"10.1177/09645284251344330","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251344330","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"181-184"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144148805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"High acupuncture expectancy is associated with shorter time to ovulation and higher chances of ovulation in infertile patients with PCOS receiving acupuncture: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Yi Gong, Jian Li, Hong-Li Ma, Tong Jiang, Hui-Chao Qin, Mu-Bai Li, Xiao-Ke Wu","doi":"10.1177/09645284251342261","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251342261","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To investigate the influence of acupuncture expectancy on fertility outcomes in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) receiving active or control acupuncture with or without clomiphene.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study was a secondary analysis of PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome Acupuncture plus Clomiphene Trial (PCOSAct), which was randomized controlled trial that recruited 1000 infertile patients with PCOS and randomly allocated them to receive active acupuncture or control acupuncture with or without clomiphene. Acupuncture expectancy data (measured on a scale from 4 to 20 points) were available in 827 women, who were subdivided into low expectancy and high expectancy groups (with scores <16 or ⩾16 points, respectively) after the third session of active or control acupuncture treatment. Anthropometric and endocrine parameters and fertility outcomes were compared. Kaplan-Meier curves were employed to evaluate the time to ovulation and live birth and a Cox regression model was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting by body mass index (BMI) and treatment group allocation in PCOSAct.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>373 and 454 patients were identified as having low and high expectancy, respectively. Compared with the low expectancy group, patients with high expectancy had been attempting to conceive for a shorter period (18 vs 24 months) and were more likely to have a prior history of acupuncture treatment (16.7% vs 10.7%). They also had an earlier menarche (13 vs 14 years), a higher BMI (23.8 vs 23.5 kg/m²) and a lower estradiol level (194.5 vs 206.9 pmol/L). There was no interaction between acupuncture and acupuncture expectancy in terms of fertility outcomes. High expectancy was significantly associated with a shorter time to ovulation (35.0 vs 49.0 days) and higher chances of ovulation during the study period (HR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.5). After adjusting for confounders, there were no significant between-group differences in any other outcomes, including conception, clinical pregnancy and live birth.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>High acupuncture expectancy was associated with a shorter time to ovulation and higher chances of ovulation in infertile patients with PCOS receiving active or control acupuncture in the PCOSAct trial.</p><p><strong>Trial registration number: </strong>NCT01573858 (ClinicalTrial.gov) and ChiCTR-TRC-12002081 (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry).</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"137-143"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144101067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of different frequencies of electroacupuncture stimulation on the electroencephalogram and intracranial levels of prostaglandin D₂ and adenosine in rats under propofol anesthesia.","authors":"Qing Chai, Jin Ma, Jinjun Shu, Huaiming Wang, Yiquan Xu, Shuying Zhu, Hongwei Zhang, Liangchun Yan, Jun Song, Bo Liu, Yiding Chen","doi":"10.1177/09645284251344329","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09645284251344329","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To investigate the effects of different frequencies of electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation on the electroencephalogram (EEG) and intracranial levels of adenosine (Ad) and prostaglandin D₂ (PGD₂) in rats anesthetized using propofol.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Thirty-six rats were divided into the manual acupuncture (MA), high-frequency EA (HF-EA) and low-frequency EA (LF-EA) groups (n = 12/group). After intravenous anesthesia with propofol, an EEG was recorded before and after stimulation at bilateral ST36 and PC6 using 50-Hz stimulation (HF-EA group) or 2/15-Hz stimulation (LF-EA group) versus no electrical stimulation (MA group). The brains were collected after the experiment to determine cortical and subcortical Ad and PGD₂ levels. The ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) was collected for Ad immunohistochemistry.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were changes in the δ wave in the LF-EA group and in the α, β and θ waves in the HF-EA group. Compared with the MA group, subcortical Ad levels were higher in the LF-EA group (0.96 ± 0.035 vs 0.93 ± 0.034 pmol/mL, p < 0.05). Cortical PGD₂ levels were higher in the LF-EA group than in the MA group (13.49 ± 0.440 vs 12.95 ± 0.436 pmol/mL, p < 0.05). VLPO Ad levels were significantly increased in the LF-EA group compared to both the HF-EA group (0.210 ± 0.0066 vs 0.201 ± 0.0065, p < 0.05) and the MA group (0.210 ± 0.0066 vs 0.199 ± 0.0095, p < 0.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>LF-EA at bilateral ST36 and PC6 may increase the depth of anesthesia and sedation, possibly through increased intracranial PGD₂ and Ad levels. However, such an effect was not found with HF-EA.</p>","PeriodicalId":7257,"journal":{"name":"Acupuncture in Medicine","volume":" ","pages":"174-180"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144172383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}