Is Deqi an Indicator of Clinical Efficacy of Acupuncture? A Systematic Review

Table 2

A summary of studies on mechanisms underlying varied Deqi sensations.

Study ID	Acupoints	Instrument	Results
Bossy et al. 1984 [51]	Jing points at the hand	NA	Deqi resulted from correct stimulation of the various structures in relation to an acupoint, such as group II afferent fibers.
Wang et al. 1985 [52]	PC6, LU11	NA	Numbness and soreness were conveyed by Group II and Group IV fibers, and heaviness and distention by Group III fibers.
Wang and Liu 1989 [53]	PC6, PC9, LI1, LU10, LU11	NA	Needling stimulation primarily activated slowly adapting receptors. The type of receptors varied with the location of acupoints.
Kuo et al. 2010 [54]	LU5, LU7	LDF	Strong Deqi sensations, heat and numbness, felt at LU5 were correlated with increased blood flow at LU5.
Kuo et al. 2004 [55]	SI6, SI8	LDF	AWD increased blood flow at acupoints. The speedy flowing of tissue fluid along the body stalk may explain the occurrence of propagated sensation along the meridian.
Kuo et al. 2004 [56]	LI4, LI11	LDF	Deqi sensations such as soreness, numbness, and heat coexisted with increased blood flow at acupoints.
Lee et al. 2010 [57]	SP3, KI2	Ultrasound dopplerography	Deqi-related warm, radiating, and energetic feelings were correlated with decreased blood flow velocity.
Zhang et al. 2011 [58]	SJ5	fMRI	Deqi sensations perceived at SJ5 were mainly soreness, numbness, distending, and heaviness, corresponding to activated left temporal lobe and superior temporal gyrus. By contrast, tingling was felt at a neighboring nonacupoint, and the left limbic lobe and hippocampal gyrus were excited.

Abbreviations: fMRI: functional magnetic resonance imaging; LDF: laser doppler flowmeter; NA: not available.