SynthesisFrontiers in neurology2023
Effect of acupuncture on the modulation of functional brain regions in migraine: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies.
Synthesis in Frontiers in neurology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integrating machine learning into acupuncture research: a scoping review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Neuroimaging biomarkers for predicting acupuncture treatment response in chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Phase-specific sequential press-needle therapy for menstrual migraine: a randomized trial protocol.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Potential neural mechanisms of acupuncture therapy on migraine: a systematic review and activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis update.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine therapy, is an effective migraine treatment, especially in improving pain. In recent years, many acupuncture brain imaging studies have found significant changes in brain function following acupuncture treatment of migraine, providing a new perspective to elucidate the mechanism of action of acupuncture. Objective: To analyse and summarize the effects of acupuncture on the modulation of specific patterns of brain region activity changes in migraine patients, thus providing a mechanism for treating migraine by acupuncture. Methods: Chinese and English articles published up to May 2022 were searched in three English databases (PubMed, Embase and Cochrane) and four Chinese databases (China national knowledge infrastructure, CNKI; Chinese Biomedical Literature database, CBM; the Chongqing VIP database, VIP; and the Wanfang database, WF). A neuroimaging meta-analysis on ALFF, ReHo was performed on the included studies using Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images (SDM-PSI) software. Subgroup analyses were used to compare differences in brain regions between acupuncture and other groups. Meta-regression was used to explore the effect of demographic information and migraine alterations on brain imaging outcomes. Linear models were drawn using MATLAB 2018a, and visual graphs for quality evaluation were produced using R and RStudio software. Results: A total of 7 studies comprising 236 patients in the treatment group and 173 in the control group were included in the meta-analysis. The results suggest that acupuncture treatment helps to improve pain symptoms in patients with migraine. The left angular gyrus is hyperactivation, and the left superior frontal gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus are hypoactivated. The migraine group showed hyperactivation in the corpus callosum compared to healthy controls. Conclusion: Acupuncture can significantly regulate changes in brain regions in migraine patients. However, due to the experimental design of neuroimaging standards are not uniform, the results also have some bias. Therefore, to better understand the potential mechanism of acupuncture on migraine, a large sample, multicenter controlled trial is needed for further study. In addition, the application of machine learning methods in neuroimaging studies could help predict the efficacy of acupuncture and screen migraine patients suitable for acupuncture treatment.
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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.