Monitoring effects of acupressure, needle and laserneedle stimulation by infrared thermography and laser Doppler flowmetry?

摘要

The aim of this study was to evaluate possible effects of temperature or microcirculation changes on the acupoint UB.67 during acupressure, needle or laserneedle stimulation at the acupoint UB.2, as described for acupressure by other authors. We investigated eleven healthy volunteers with a mean age ? SD of 30.0 ? 7.2 years. The measurement equipment consisted of non-contact (infrared camera ThermaCAM P640, Flir Systems Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA) and contact (laser Doppler flowmetry and temperature device DRT4 from Moor Instruments Ltd., Millwey, Axminster, U.K.) methods. The results showed that there were no significant (one-way repeated measures ANOVA) changes during any of the stimulation methods used.We conclude that stimulation at the acupoint UB.2 does not change temperature or microcirculation at the acupoint UB.67 in healthy volunteers under constant experimental conditions. Introduction Meridian theory is associated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Although medical acupuncture has been accepted in many countries, the nature of the meridian system and also several details of the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture have not been fully explained by modern science.The use and the acceptation of thermal imaging and laser Doppler flowmetry in complementary medicine has been proven recently and is described in review articles [1,2].The aim of this article was to investigate possible peripheral effects (temperature and microcirculation) at the acupoint urinary bladder 67 (UB.67; Zhiyin) following different stimulation modalities (acupressure, needle and laserneedle stimulation) of the acupoint urinary bladder 2 (UB.2; Zanzhu). In addition, unilateral stimulation on the right acupoint large intestine 4 (LI.4; Hegu) was performed within a separate session at the same eleven healthy volunteers. Methods ParticipantsThe eleven healthy volunteers (mean age SD: 30.0 7.2 years; range 28 – 48 years; 7 female, 4 male) agreed to participate in the study and gave written informed consent. The experiments were approved by the Ethic committee of the Medical University of Graz. All participants did not receive any treatment for 24 hours before measuring body temperature and microcirculation.Experimental DevicesThe infrared thermal imaging device used in this study was a ThermaCAM P640 (Flir Systems Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA) with optics of 24° x 18° /0.3 m. The equipment operates at wavelengths ranging from 7.5 – 13 μm and temperature ranging from -40 °C to +500 °C with a sensitivity of 0.06 °C at 30 °C and 30 Hz image frequency.In addition to thermal imaging, the temperature and the microcirculatory parameter Flux (equal to the product of the average speed and concentration of moving red blood cells in the tissue sample volume) at the acupoints were registered as comparative measurements in a different session using a laser Doppler flowmetry device (DRT4) from Moor Instruments Ltd. (Millwey, Axminster, U.K.). Laser wavelength was 780 nm, whereby the raw signal was filtered with a digital filter from 20 Hz to 22.5 kHz. Probe (diameter 8 mm, length 7 mm) output was defined with 1 mW. The temperature unit (5 – 50 °C) had a resolution of 0.2 °C. The experimental equipment is shown in Figure 1.