ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2014
Connectomics: a new direction in research to understand the mechanism of acupuncture.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of acupuncture on the modulation of functional brain regions in migraine: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Pooled it
- Global Trends and Performances of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies on Acupuncture: A Bibliometric Analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Pooled it
- A true response of the brain network during electroacupuncture stimulation at scalp acupoints: An fMRI with simultaneous EAS study.Brain and behavior · 2023Trial
- Triple Puncture for Primary Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Current medical science · 2019Trial
- Acupuncture treatment modulates the corticostriatal reward circuitry in major depressive disorder.Journal of psychiatric research · 2017Trial
- The effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for tinnitus: a randomized controlled trial using (99m)Tc-ECD SPECT.European radiology · 2016Trial
- The modulation effect of longitudinal acupuncture on resting state functional connectivity in knee osteoarthritis patients.Molecular pain · 2015Trial
- Acupuncture modulates cortical thickness and functional connectivity in knee osteoarthritis patients.Scientific reports · 2014Trial
- Resting-State fMRI Reveals the Neural Correlates of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Vascular Cognitive Impairment.Clinical interventions in aging · 2025Review
- The Efficacy and Brain Network Mechanism of Acupuncture for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Study Protocol for Randomized Controlled Neuroimaging Trial.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Acupuncture-Neuroimaging Research Trends over Past Two Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2023Review
- Evidence of Potential Mechanisms of Acupuncture from Functional MRI Data for Migraine Prophylaxis.Current pain and headache reports · 2021Review
- Resting-State fMRI in Studies of Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Review
- The Effects of Acupuncture on Hemodynamic Changes During Endotracheal Intubation for General Anesthesia.Medical acupuncture · 2019Article
- Intraoperative Electroacupuncture Reduces Postoperative Pain, Analgesic Requirement and Prevents Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Gynaecological Surgery: A Randomised Controlled Trial.Anesthesiology and pain medicine · 2016Article
- Magnetic stimulation at Neiguan (PC6) acupoint increases connections between cerebral cortex regions.Neural regeneration research · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Acupuncture has been used to treat various disorders in China and some other eastern countries for thousands of years. Nowadays, acupuncture is gradually accepted as an alternative and complementary method in western countries for its undeniable therapeutic effects. However, its central mechanism is still unclear. It is especially difficult to reveal how different regions in the brain influence one another and how the relationship is among these regions responding to acupuncture treatment. Recently, by applying neuroimaging techniques and network theory, acupuncture studies can make further efforts to investigate the influence of acupuncture on regional cerebral functional connectivity (FC) and the modulation on "acupuncture-related" networks. Connectomics appears to be a new direction in research to further understand the central mechanism underlying acupuncture. In this paper, an overview of connectomics application in acupuncture research will be discussed, with special emphasis on present findings of acupuncture and its influence on cerebral FC. Firstly, the connectomics concept and its significance on acupuncture will be outlined. Secondly, the commonly used brain imaging techniques will be briefly introduced. Thirdly, the influence of acupuncture on FC will be discussed in greater detail. Finally, the possible direction in forthcoming research will be reviewed by analyzing the limitation of present studies.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.