Acupuncture is widely used to treat functional dyspepsia with satisfactory outcomes. Combination of the He and Mu acupoints is commonly used and has a synergistic effect on functional dyspepsia; however, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, a randomized controlled parallel clinical trial is currently underway at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China. This tri...

OBJECTIVES This study examined the effect of acupuncture alone and in combination with education on smoking cessation and cigarette consumption. METHODS We prospectively studied 141 adults in a quasi-factorial design using acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and education. RESULTS All groups showed significant reductions in smoking and posttreatment cigarette consumption, with the combined acupu...

Acupuncture has been used for millennia to treat pain, although its efficacy and duration of action is limited. Acupuncture also has brief (1-2 h) antinociceptive effects in mice and these effects are dependent on localized adenosine A₁ receptor (A₁R) activation. Intriguingly, adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) is basally elevated near acupuncture points. This finding suggested that it might be p...

This was a prospective multicenter observational study, aiming to explore the effects of acupuncture on smoking cessation in Hong Kong. From March of 2010 to August of 2015, a total of 5202 smokers were recruited based on inclusion criteria and treated with acupuncture for 8 weeks. As a result, 2940 subjects finished the study with a drop-out rate of 43.48%. The self-reported 7-day point abstin...

BACKGROUND The mechanisms of action underlying acupuncture, including acupuncture point specificity, are not well understood. In the previous decade, an increasing number of studies have applied fMRI to investigate brain response to acupuncture stimulation. Our aim was to provide a systematic overview of acupuncture fMRI research considering the following aspects: 1) differences between verum a...

The biological effects of acupuncture include the regulation of a variety of neurohumoral factors and growth control factors. In science, models or hypotheses with confirmed predictions are considered more convincing than models solely based on retrospective explanations. Literature review showed that two biological models of acupuncture have been prospectively tested with independently confirm...

OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of acupuncture in treating hot flushes in perimenopausal or postmenopausal women. METHODS The study was a randomised single-blind sham-controlled clinical trial. Perimenopausal or postmenopausal women with moderate or severe hot flushes were randomised to receive real or sham acupuncture. Both groups underwent a 4-week run-in period before the treatment. The...

• The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1 reported a case of hemopericardium following acupuncture by an unauthorized acupuncturist. This report documents the case of a female patient who had a thoracostomy and was transferred to the emergency...

The use of acupuncture as a method of pain relief in Western medicine is based on a wide range of clinical trials, and there is no doubt that it has significant effect in the treatment of acute and chronic pain, as to the pain classification. Acupuncture has been recognized as a pain relief method in most countries and is commonly used in general practice and at pain relief clinics in addition ...

PURPOSE The purpose is to investigate an additional antiemetic effect to ondansetron with needle acupuncture at P6 compared with nonskin-penetrating placebo acupuncture in patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Eighty patients who were admitted to hospital for high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral bl...