An Yuri, Jeon Jong Wook, Kwon Kihwan, Choi Chulhee
Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea.
Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Meridian Research Centre, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea.
Med Devices (Auckl). 2014 Feb 20;7:17-21. doi: 10.2147/MDER.S56716. eCollection 2014.
Even though acupuncture has long been used for alleviating symptoms related to vascular insufficiency, the clinical effect of acupuncture on peripheral circulation has not been fully confirmed. In this study, we investigated whether a near-infrared optical imaging-based method can be used to evaluate the efficacy of the acupuncture procedure to induce changes in peripheral tissue perfusion.
Two normal, healthy controls were treated with acupuncture on two acupoints (LI-4 and SI-3) three times within 1 week. At the first and third visits, participants were examined using indocyanine green (ICG) perfusion imaging before and 10 minutes after the acupuncture procedure. Blood perfusion of the hands was determined after intravenous bolus injection of ICG and dynamic analysis of the fluorescence signals by near-infrared imaging system.
The blood perfusion rates of the hands were markedly increased immediately after acupuncture at the first trial in both cases. The baseline perfusion rates of the hands measured at the third visit were higher compared to the original basal level in one case; there was no difference in baseline perfusion rates of both hands in another case. In both cases, there was no acute effect of acupuncture on hand perfusion at the third trial.
These results collectively suggest a potential of the ICG perfusion imaging as an effective evaluation tool to validate the vasoactive effect of acupuncture.
尽管针灸长期以来一直用于缓解与血管功能不全相关的症状，但针灸对周围循环的临床效果尚未得到充分证实。在本研究中，我们调查了基于近红外光学成像的方法是否可用于评估针刺程序诱导周围组织灌注变化的疗效。
两名正常健康对照者在1周内对两个穴位（合谷穴和后溪穴）进行3次针灸治疗。在第一次和第三次就诊时，在针刺程序前和针刺后10分钟使用吲哚菁绿（ICG）灌注成像对参与者进行检查。在静脉推注ICG后，通过近红外成像系统对荧光信号进行动态分析，测定手部的血液灌注情况。
在第一次试验中，针刺后双手的血液灌注率立即显著增加。在第三次就诊时，其中一名受试者测量的手部基线灌注率高于原始基线水平；另一名受试者双手的基线灌注率没有差异。在第三次试验中，针刺对两名受试者的手部灌注均无急性影响。
这些结果共同表明，ICG灌注成像作为一种有效的评估工具，具有验证针灸血管活性作用的潜力。
