Acupuncture regulates the glucose metabolism in cerebral functional regions in chronic stage ischemic stroke patients--a PET-CT cerebral functional imaging study

• Published in: BMC neuroscience Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 75
• Main Authors: Huang, Yong, Tang, Chunzhi, Wang, Shuxia, Lu, Yangjia, Shen, Wei, Yang, Junjun, Chen, Junqi, Lin, Renyong, Cui, Shaoyang, Xiao, Huiling, Qu, Shanshan, Lai, Xinsheng, Shan, Baoci
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 27.06.2012; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Acupuncture Points; Acupuncture Therapy - methods; Aphasia; Brain Mapping; Brodmann's area; Cerebral activating/deactivating effect; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Chinese medicine; Computer programs; CT imaging; Deactivation; Dextrose; Electroacupuncture; Experiments; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose; Glucose - metabolism; Health aspects; Humans; Ischemia; Ischemic stroke; Linear Models; Male; Middle Aged; Needling/sham needling; Nervous system; Patients; PET imaging; PET-CT cerebral functional imaging; Physiological aspects; Positron-Emission Tomography; Sham point; Single-Blind Method; software; Stroke; Stroke - diagnostic imaging; Stroke - therapy; Stroke patients; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Waiguan (TE5); China
• ISSN: 1471-2202; 1471-2202
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-13-75

Acupuncture has been applied to aid in the recovery of post-stroke patients, but its mechanism is unclear. This study aims to analyze the relationship between acupuncture and glucose metabolism in cerebral functional regions in post-stroke patients using (18)FDG PET-CT techniques. Forty-three ischemic stroke patients were randomly divided into 5 groups: the Waiguan (TE5) needling group, the TE5 sham needling group, the sham point needling group, the sham point sham needling group and the non-needling group. Cerebral functional images of all patients were then acquired using PET-CT scans and processed by SPM2 software. Compared with the non-needling group, sham needling at TE5 and needling/sham needling at the sham point did not activate cerebral areas. However, needling at TE5 resulted in the activation of Brodmann Area (BA) 30. Needling/sham needling at TE5 and needling at the sham point did not deactivate any cerebral areas, whereas sham needling at the sham point led to deactivation in BA6. Compared with sham needling at TE5, needling at TE5 activated BA13, 19 and 47 and did not deactivate any areas. Compared with needling at the sham point, needling at TE5 had no associated activation but a deactivating effect on BA9. Needling at TE5 had a regulating effect on cerebral functional areas shown by PET-CT, and this may relate to its impact on the recovery of post-stroke patients.