Trial reportArthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)2021
Greater Somatosensory Afference With Acupuncture Increases Primary Somatosensory Connectivity and Alleviates Fibromyalgia Pain via Insular γ-Aminobutyric Acid: A Randomized Neuroimaging Trial.
Trial report in Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06571110 (Analgesic Response to Opioids in Patients With Fibromyalgia After Conventional Acupuncture Versus Sham Acupuncture), which is not on this map. Cited by 32 papers, 4 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.
Analgesic Response to Opioids in Patients With Fibromyalgia After Conventional Acupuncture Versus Sham Acupuncture
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- The efficacy of acupuncture treatment for fibromyalgia syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Acupuncture versus tricyclic antidepressants in the prophylactic treatment of tension-type headaches: an indirect treatment comparison meta-analysis.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Pooled it
- Meta-analysis and open-source database for in vivo brain Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy in health and disease.Analytical biochemistry · 2023Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of neuroimaging evidence for acupuncture-mediated modulation of altered central pain processing in patients with chronic pain.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Electroacupuncture alleviates pain after total knee arthroplasty through regulating neuroplasticity: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.Brain and behavior · 2023Trial
- The increased inter-brain neural synchronization in prefrontal cortex between simulated patient and acupuncturist during acupuncture stimulation: Evidence from functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning.Human brain mapping · 2023Trial
- A true response of the brain network during electroacupuncture stimulation at scalp acupoints: An fMRI with simultaneous EAS study.Brain and behavior · 2023Trial
- Brain sensory network activity underlies reduced nociceptive initiated and nociplastic pain via acupuncture in fibromyalgia.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Brain Sensory Network Activity Underlies Reduced Nociceptive-Initiated and Nociplastic Pain via Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia.Research square · 2025Article
- Therapeutic approach to fibromyalgia: a consensus statement on pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment from the neuropathic pain special interest group of the Italian neurological society.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Article
- Elevated posterior insula glutamate in patients with sickle cell disease.The journal of pain · 2025Article
- Localization of brain networks activated by acupuncture at anatomically adjacent acupoints in healthy participants: neuroimaging evidence and implications for migraine and stroke.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Decoding chronic pain: the glutamate-GABA tug of war in the cerebral cortex.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2025Review
- Exploration of Key Brain Regions Involved in Acupuncture and Moxibustion Analgesia: An Imaging-Based Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Electroacupuncture ameliorates inflammatory pain through CB2 receptor-dependent activation of the AMPK signaling pathway.Chinese medicine · 2024Article
- Recent advances in acupuncture for pain relief.Pain reports · 2024Article
- Electroacupuncture Reduced Fibromyalgia-Pain-like Behavior through Inactivating Transient Receptor Potential V1 and Interleukin-17 in Intermittent Cold Stress Mice Model.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Review
- Functional connectivity associated with attention networks differs among subgroups of fibromyalgia patients: an observational case-control study.Scientific reports · 2024Observational
- The efficacy of electroacupuncture for cervical nerve edema and movement disorder caused by the brachial plexus injury: a case report.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveAcupuncture is a complex multicomponent treatment that has shown promise in the treatment of fibromyalgia (FM). However, clinical trials have shown mixed results, possibly due to heterogeneous methodology and lack of understanding of the underlying mechanism of action. The present study was undertaken to understand the specific contribution of somatosensory afference to improvements in clinical pain, and the specific brain circuits involved.
methodsSeventy-six patients with FM were randomized to receive either electroacupuncture (EA), with somatosensory afference, or mock laser acupuncture (ML), with no somatosensory afference, twice a week over 8 treatments. Patients with FM in each treatment group were assessed for pain severity levels, measured using Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) scores, and for levels of functional brain network connectivity, assessed using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the right anterior insula, before and after treatment.
resultsFibromyalgia patients who received EA therapy experienced a greater reduction in pain severity, as measured by the BPI, compared to patients who received ML therapy (mean difference in BPI from pre- to posttreatment was -1.14 in the EA group versus -0.46 in the ML group; P for group × time interaction = 0.036). Participants receiving EA treatment, as compared to ML treatment, also exhibited resting functional connectivity between the primary somatosensory cortical representation of the leg (S1
conclusionThe somatosensory component of acupuncture modulates primary somatosensory functional connectivity associated with insular neurochemistry to reduce pain severity in FM.
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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.