Cerebral blood flow effect of acupuncture in healthy volunteers with ^99mTc-ECD SPECT

Objectives: In the past few decades, there has been an increasing trend in seeking complementary and alternative medicine. Acupuncture is widely applied in the treatment of cerebrovascular accident, but the effect of acupuncture on cerebral blood flow in healthy volunteers has not been confirmed. The aim of this study was to establish the difference between cerebral blood flow before and after acupuncture in healthy volunteers through ^99mTc-ECD SPECT imaging.

Methods: The acupuncture point used in this study was Shousanli (LI 10), located at the left radial side of the forearm and 2 inches below the transverse cubital crease. A total of 10 healthy volunteers received ^99mTc-ECD SPECT/CT imaging two times. The baseline ^99mTc-ECD imaging started 30-80 minutes after 20mCi ^99mTc-ECD injection. And the second ^99mTc-ECD imaging was performed after receiving acupuncture for 20 minutes, the ^99mTc-ECD imaging was performed 30-80 minutes after 20mCi ^99mTc-ECD injection. All images were spatially normalized into Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) template aided from individual CT images, and 67 VOIs in the AAL template were applied for computing the uptake ratio.

Results: The results showed a significant increase in blood perfusion in the superior frontal, insula, parahippocampal, occipital, fusiform, angular, caudate, putamen, pallidum, heschl, and parietal regions after receiving acupuncture.

Conclusions: Preliminary results show that cerebral blood flow can be stimulated by administering acupuncture on the acupuncture point Shousanli (LI 10), which may provide scientific evidence for the therapeutic potential of acupuncture.