Trial reportBMC complementary medicine and therapies2025
Effect of acupuncture treatment for patients with knee osteoarthritis on brain fluctuation amplitude and functional connectivity: a randomized three-armed fMRI study.
Trial report in BMC complementary medicine and therapies, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled 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
- Shuci method of electroacupuncture improves self-perception and quality of life in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Trial
- Non-Pharmacological Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Scoping Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of pain research · 2026Review
- Evaluating the Effect of Electroacupuncture in Knee Osteoarthritis: Protocol for a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Brain activities responding to acupuncture at acupoint in healthy subjects: a study protocol based on task-based fMRI.Frontiers in neurology · 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
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn clinical practice, the overall effect of a treatment includes specific and nonspecific components. Although the analgesic mechanism of specific acupuncture effect has been studied extensively, the understanding of neural basis about nonspecific placebo effect is insufficient. We aimed to reveal the neurological signatures associated with both specific effect and nonspecific effect of acupuncture in chronic pain using the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
methodsIn this three-armed, randomized controlled trial, 90 patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) were divided into acupuncture group (AG), sham acupuncture group (SG), or waiting list group (WG), receiving 12 times of treatments during 4 weeks. NRS, WOMAC score, and fMRI data were collected before and after treatment. We assessed the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) to investigate the brain functional bases of the nonspecific (SG vs. WG) and specific (AG vs. SG) effects of acupuncture.
resultsAcupuncture could significantly reduce NRS score in KOA patients (overall P < 0.001). Neurally, significant ALFF changes in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were observed in the AG (vs. SG) and SG (vs. WG; Voxel P < 0.001, Cluster P < 0.001), respectively. And the decreased ALFF values of DLPFC had a positive correlation with the NRS score changes in the SG (spearman rho = 0.592, P = 0.002). Moreover, FC between DLPFC and thalamus was increased in the AG compared to SG. And compared to WG, there was a decreased FC between DLPFC and cerebellum in the SG.
conclusionThe spontaneous activity of the DLPFC was involved in both the specific and nonspecific acupuncture effects, whereas different DLPFC FCs related to the specific or nonspecific effects of acupuncture. Our findings contribute to the understanding about the neuroimaging evidence of the acupuncture effects. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( www.chictr.org.cn ) ChiCTR1900025799. This study was registered on 9th September 2019.
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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.