Recent research trends of electrical, magnetic, optical and acoustic stimulations at acupoints; a literature review

摘要

Purpose: In parallel with the growing popularity ofthe clinical practice of acupuncture, research on modernacupuncture-like stimulation devices (ASDs) has been increasingin recent decades. To summarize the research on the fourmost popular ASDs, which are based on electrical, magnetic,laser and ultrasonic stimulations, with a focus on their effectivenessin human beings.Methods: We analyzed papers from several medical electronicdatabases, including Medline, PubMed, the CochraneLibrary, and Web of Science. Studies with all types of designand clinical indications that were performed with humansubjects and written in English were included. We excludedpapers that contained clinical experiments on animals andmanual acupuncture techniques, andwe also excluded reviewpapers.Results: A total of 728 studies were found, and 195 studiesmet our inclusion criteria. The 195 studieswere included the 4types of stimulation methods: 133 studies with electric stimulation(ES), 44 studies with laser stimulation (LS), 16 studieswith magnetic stimulation (MS), and 2 studies with ultrasonicstimulation (US). These 4 types of stimulation can be furtherclassified into 13 categories according to their effects. Of thesestudies, 181 reported therapeutic benefits. A total of 114 studies(58%) used random clinical trials (RCTs), and 109 studies(96%) reported therapeutic benefits among the RCTs.Conclusion: For the first time, we reviewed the therapeuticeffects of the four most popular ASDs which are ES, LS, MS andUS. We found that the ES technique was the earliest modernapplication and the most widely studied among ASDs, andwas followed by LS, MS and US. The majority of the studies(32%) focused on the effects of analgesia and pain relief, andbrain activity (16%) was an emerging research field.We expectnoninvasive or minimally invasive ASDs will become morepopular in the acupuncture research due to safety, infection,and convenience.