Razavy Shohreh, Gadau Marcus, Zhang Shi Ping, Wang Fu Chun, Bangrazi Sergio, Berle Christine, Harahap Mahrita, Li Tie, Li Wei Hong, Zaslawski Christopher
School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia.
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, 7 Baptist University Road Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Jul 3;17(1):348. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-1859-0.
The psychophysical responses induced by verum acupuncture are characterized by a constellation of unique subjective sensory responses commonly termed De Qi. Furthermore, a variety of sham interventions have been used as a control for acupuncture clinical trials. Indeed, one such control has been mock laser which has been used as control intervention in several acupuncture clinical controlled trials. The current study aim was to examine the De Qi sensory responses and its related characteristics elicited from acupuncture and compare them to those reported following sham laser in participants enrolled in a clinical trial.
The study was embedded in a multi-center, two-arm randomised clinical trial, which evaluated the effect of acupuncture on lateral elbow pain. De Qi was assessed using the Massachusetts General Hospital Acupuncture Sensation Scale (MASS). Ninety-six participants were randomly allocated to receive either acupuncture (n = 47) or mock laser (n = 49) at the acupoints LI 10 and LI 11.
Participants in both intervention groups reported similar De Qi psychophysical characteristics; however, both intensity and frequency of the individually perceived De Qi characteristics were significantly higher in the acupuncture group. 'Soreness', 'deep pressure', and 'fullness-distension' in the acupuncture group and 'tingling', and 'sharp pain' in mock laser group, were identified as the leading characteristics. Similar level of MASS De Qi Index (MDI) scores were reported for 'Hong Kong-China' and 'Australia-Italy' with a significantly higher level of De Qi reported by 'Hong Kong-China'. Furthermore, two distinct De Qi categories were identified, namely De Qi (in line with classical sensory responses of Suan, Ma, Zhang, and Zhong) and pain.
Subjective 'somatic or interoceptive awareness' should be taken into account when De Qi psychophysical responses are examined. The study accentuates the necessity and the significance of further research into interoception phenomenon which may contribute to a better understanding of the placebo effect and De Qi psychophysical responses.
Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry reference: ACTRN12613001138774 on 11th of October 2013.
真针刺诱导的心理物理反应具有一系列独特的主观感觉反应特征，通常称为得气。此外，多种假干预措施已被用作针刺临床试验的对照。实际上，其中一种对照是模拟激光，它已在多项针刺临床对照试验中用作对照干预措施。本研究的目的是检查针刺引起的得气感觉反应及其相关特征，并将其与参加临床试验的参与者接受假激光照射后报告的反应进行比较。
该研究纳入一项多中心、双臂随机临床试验，评估针刺对肘部外侧疼痛的影响。使用麻省总医院针刺感觉量表（MASS）评估得气情况。96名参与者被随机分配接受在穴位LI 10和LI 11处进行针刺（n = 47）或模拟激光照射（n = 49）。
两个干预组的参与者报告了相似的得气心理物理特征；然而，针刺组个体感觉到的得气特征的强度和频率均显著更高。针刺组的“酸痛”“深压感”和“胀满感”以及模拟激光组的“刺痛感”和“锐痛”被确定为主要特征。“中国香港”和“澳大利亚 - 意大利”报告的MASS得气指数（MDI）得分水平相似，“中国香港”报告的得气水平显著更高。此外，确定了两种不同的得气类别，即得气（符合酸、麻、胀、重的经典感觉反应）和疼痛。
在检查得气心理物理反应时应考虑主观的“躯体或内感受觉意识”。该研究强调了对内感受现象进行进一步研究的必要性和重要性，这可能有助于更好地理解安慰剂效应和得气心理物理反应。
澳大利亚和新西兰临床试验注册中心编号：2013年10月11日注册，注册号为ACTRN12613001138774。
