ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2015
The Effects of Acupuncture on Cerebral and Muscular Microcirculation: A Systematic Review of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Studies.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trigger point dry needling increases masseter muscle oxygenation in patients with temporomandibular disorder.Journal of applied oral science : revista FOB · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Difference in the metabolic characteristics of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients and healthy adults.Medicine · 2020Trial
- Article
- Dystonia: pathophysiology and the role of acupuncture in treatment.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2025Review
- When sng meets acupuncture -- a paradigm-shift biomarker for translational research.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2025Review
- [Monitoring of gastrointestinal dysfunction by near-infrared spectroscopy in children with sepsis: a prospective study].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2022Article
- The Moxibustion-Induced Thermal Transport Effect Between the Heart and Lung Meridians With Infrared Thermography.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Article
- Acupuncture in the Treatment of Sequestered Intervertebral Disk Herniation.Medical acupuncture · 2021Article
- Electro-Acupuncture Promotes Accumulation of Paclitaxel by Altering Tumor Microvasculature and Microenvironment in Breast Cancer of Mice.Frontiers in oncology · 2019Article
- Can Acupuncture Treatment of Hypertension Improve Brain Health? A Mini Review.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2019Article
- Contrast Baths, Intramuscular Hemodynamics, and Oxygenation as Monitored by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.Journal of athletic training · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Acupuncture produces physiological effects via stimulating acupoints, proximal or distal to the region of effect. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) noninvasively measures tissue-level hemodynamics in real time. We review the literature investigating the effect of acupuncture on muscular and/or cerebral microcirculation. As the basis, we queried PubMed in June 2014 for articles mentioning both acupuncture and NIRS in title/abstract. The reviewed papers investigated either cerebral (n = 11) or muscular hemodynamics (n = 5) and, based on STRICTA for reporting acupuncture methodology, were overall poor in quality. Acupuncture was found to influence regional oxygen saturation in cerebral and muscular tissue. The cortical response in healthy subjects varied across studies. For subjects with stroke or cerebrovascular dementia, findings suggest that acupuncture may modulate dysfunction in cerebral autoregulation. The muscular response to pressure techniques was more intense than that to needling or laser. Probe proximity could impact measurement sensitivity. No one study simultaneously investigated the direct and remote responses. Research utilizing NIRS to investigate the hemodynamics of acupuncture presently lacks in scope and quality. Improved designs, for example, placebo-controlled, randomized trials, and standardized intervention reporting will raise study quality. Exploiting NIRS in clinical settings, such as stroke, migraine, or other pain conditions, is worthwhile.
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.