Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Review Article

The Effects of Acupuncture on Cerebral and Muscular Microcirculation: A Systematic Review of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Studies

Table 4

NIRS results. Summary of hemodynamic outcomes as measured by NIRS.


NIRS	Measure	Anatomy	Time frame	Outcomes^†

Not available [28]	rCBV	Prefrontal cortex	At the (A) 0th, (B) 10th, (C) 20th, (D) 30th min of 30-minute acupuncture	During MB, rCBV at growing rate (130% from A to D); during MB + S, rCBV at B, then at C and D (136% A to D). At A, base MB + S >base MB
Not available [29]	rCBV	Prefrontal cortex	At the 0th, 10th, 20th, 30th min of EM^†	rCBV during intervention
NIRO 300 [27]	O₂Hb, HHb^††	Prefrontal cortex	During 10-minute needle retention/laser and a period 5 min after stim	O₂Hb and HHb during MH, MB, C, C + L′; O₂Hb and HHb slightly from Pt; O₂Hb and HHb slightly from A. Same response at least 5 min after
NIRO 300 [30]	O₂Hb, HHb, t-Hb, CtOx, TOI	Central cortex (crown of head)	During all stim and rest periods between (20 s) stim’s	O₂Hb and TOI from MB or L. Response to MB >Response to L. O₂Hb and TOI from needling or laser of Pt
NIRO 300 [32]	O₂Hb	Frontal areas of brain	Before and during all stimulation periods	O₂Hb each time during 15-minute EA stim of 100 Hz on “eye” acupuncture points
INVOS 3100 [33]	rSO₂ (NIRS)	Forehead	(A) 10 min before, (B) 2 min into, (C) 10 min after (20 min) needling	rSO₂ slightly at B and C
INVOS 5100 [38]	rcSO₂	Prefrontal cortex	1 min before, 3 min into, and 1 min after	rcSO₂
INVOS 5100 [34]	rcSO₂	Prefrontal cortex	Before and 10 min after needling, for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 11th sessions	rcSO₂ (4%–13%) after each needling. Magnitude of change at each session reduced with successive sessions
NIRO 300 [37]	rcSO₂ SpO₂ cFTOE	Prefrontal cortex	3 5-minute sampling periods: before, during, and after laser stim	rcSO₂, SpO₂, and cFTOE in the postintervention period. No changes before or during stimulation
fNIRS: 2 OMM 3000 [35]	O₂Hb	Whole cortex	11 min: 2 min after needle insertion to end of acupuncture	Over 20 s interval, in SMA, pre-SMA, and mPFC: O₂Hb during and 5 s after de-qi stim’s; O₂Hb during stim with no de-qi. O₂Hb in the other cortical regions
NIRO 300 [31]	O₂Hb, HHb, CtOx	Central region of cortex	7 min: 1 min before to end of acupuncture	After each stim, O₂Hb HHb CtOx

HEO-200 [40]	O₂Hb, HHb, t-Hb	Trapezius muscle^**	From 3 min before to 5 min after non-de-qi stim	O₂Hb t-Hb HHb in stim region during and after stim compared with distant region. Parameters for controls
OM-200 [41]	t-Hb SdO₂	Trapezius muscle	5 min before to 5 min after needling	t-Hb SdO₂ after needling
OM-200 [41]		Trapezius muscle	Before, during, and after 1-minute exercise	one day after needling in 10/13 patients
INVOS 5100 [39]	rSO₂	Knee	Just before, 2 min into, and immediately after	rSO₂ during and after stim on the stim side ( = 0.033); rSO₂ on opposite side
InSpectra [42]	O₂Hb and t-Hb	Forearm	4 2-minute sampling periods over 14 min: before, during, and after	O₂Hb • t-Hb in the sampling periods
NIR imaging: Vas View [36]	Perfusion rate	Hands	4 15 min: 10 min before (A₁, A₃) and after (B₁, B₃) 1st and 3rd MB^†	B₁: perfusion . A₁ versus A₃ baselines: one case , but the other . B₃: perfusion

: significant increase; : significant decrease; : insignificant or no change; stim: stimulation; rCBV: regional cerebral blood volume; rSO₂: regional oxygen saturation; rcSO₂: regional cerebral oxygen saturation; cFTOE: cerebral fractional tissue oxygen extraction, calculated by (SpO₂ − rcSO₂)/SpO₂, where SpO₂ is peripheral oxygen saturation; O₂Hb: concentration of oxyhemoglobin; HHb: concentration of deoxyhemoglobin; t-Hb: total hemoglobin (t-Hb = O₂Hb + HHb); CtOx: concentration of cytochrome oxidase aa3; TOI: tissue oxygenation index; SdO₂: oxygenation rate (%) calculated by O₂Hb/t-Hb; : half recovery time of SdO₂ after maximum exertion of trapezius for 1 min; SMA: supplementary motor area; mPFC: dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.
INVOS 3100, 5100: Somanetics, Troy, USA; NIRO 300: Hamamatsu, Japan; OM-200 (number P/N 101-40200), OMM 3000: Shimadzu Co. Ltd, Kyoto, Japan; Model HEO-200: OMRON Ltd. Inc., Japan; Vas View: Vieworks Corp., Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea; InSpectra: Hutchinson Technology Inc., Netherlands.
^†Abbreviations for interventions are in Table 3. ^††Maximum amplitude of the changes in oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin.
^*On midpoint between the C7 spinous process, near neck tender points; ^**near and 50 mm away from Jianjing GB 21 stimulation point.