Sino-European Transcontinental High-Tech Teleacupuncture Studies and New Equipment for Integrative Laser Medicine

摘要

Basic research on High-Tech Acupuncture has been successfully performed in Graz since 1997 using a broad spectrum of innovative biomedical engineering methods. One of the main goals is to combine basic research on high-tech acupuncture with necessary further experimental and clinical pilot studies in China for the first time. Acupuncture has been used for medical treatment for thousands of years. Using electro-acupuncture, needle or laser needle stimulation and modern biomedical techniques, it is possible for the first time to quantify changes in biological activities caused by acupuncture. The patient is in China - the analysis for the efficacy of acupuncture is performed by experts in Graz. This "transcontinental teleacupuncture" is a way which was realized by our research team within joint Sino-Austrian and Sino-European projects. The investigations are carried out over thousands of kilometers: 24-hours-electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings from patients are registered in China, and the data are transferred directly after the acupuncture treatment to an analysis computer at the Medical University of Graz. The acupuncturists in China are informed about the results immediately based on the analysis protocol. Apart from our main partner, the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing, there are important cooperations with the Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the Capital Medical University, and the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine which is partly already reflected in several publications on the topic (see http://litscher.info and www.pubmed.gov:'Litscher G'). The innovation was introduced in several international and local meetings and publications. Modernization of acupuncture is a contemporary issue. The bridging between Eastern and Western medicine was successful using modern biomedical engineering technology; the next task is to make the arising possibilities and results useable for all involved persons.