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Biomedical subjects

Hyangsook Lee

Publications and source records attributed to Hyangsook Lee.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Pain-relieving effects of acupuncture and electroacupuncture in an animal model of arthritic pain.

The effects of acupuncture and electroacupuncture on an animal model of arthritic pain were examined. Under halothane anesthesia, arthritic pain was induced by the injection of carrageenan into the knee joint cavity of male Sprague-Dawley rats. Behavioral performance was tested before and after the termination of acupuncture or electroacupuncture. Electrophysiologically, the responses of afferents to a movement cycle were recorded before and after acupuncture or electroacupuncture. After the acupuncture procedure, the weight-bearing force of the rats was significantly improved and the neural responses to noxious movement stimulation were reduced. Electroacupuncture significantly improved weight-bearing behavior and inhibited neural responses of articular afferents to noxious stimulation. These results indicate that acupuncture and electroacupuncture may provide a potent strategy in relieving arthritic pain.

Acupuncture Points↗

Acupuncture analgesia during surgery: a systematic review.

The aim of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjunctive analgesic method to standard anaesthetic procedures for surgery and to determine whether acupuncture has any analgesic-sparing effect. Electronic literature searches for randomised clinical trials (RCTs) of acupuncture during surgery were performed in seven electronic databases. No language restrictions were imposed. All included studies were rated according to their methodological quality and validity. As the studies were clinically heterogeneous, no meta-analyses were performed. The evidence was classified according to four levels: strong, moderate, limited, or inconclusive. Nineteen RCTs were identified. Seven of them suggested that acupuncture is efficacious. Of nine high-quality RCTs, two studies had positive outcomes. There was no significant association between study quality and direction of outcome. One of eight high-validity trials reported a positive outcome and there was a significant relationship between validity and direction of outcome. The evidence that acupuncture is more effective than no acupuncture as an adjunct to standard anaesthetic procedures is therefore inconclusive. Strong evidence exists that real acupuncture is not significantly different from placebo acupuncture. For an analgesic-sparing effect of acupuncture, evidence remains inconclusive. In conclusion, this review does not support the use of acupuncture as an adjunct to standard anaesthetic procedures during surgery.

Acupuncture Analgesia↗

Deqi sensation between the acupuncture-experienced and the naïve: a Korean study II.

Previous experience of acupuncture is believed to affect people's expectation of future treatments. Therefore, subjects who have had acupuncture are generally excluded from sham-controlled acupuncture clinical trials. However, this assumption has not been proven, but just accepted because of the lack of evidence to the contrary. To investigate the difference in frequency and intensity of acupuncture sensation between subjects who have had acupuncture and those who have not, 36 acupuncture-experienced subjects were invited to take part in the study. After informed consent was obtained, participants were asked to complete the acupuncture sensation scale (ASS) according to what they expected needling to feel like. The needling was done at the left Hegu (LI 4) point and consisted of insertion, stimulation for 30 seconds and removal. After needling, the subjects were asked to complete the same ASS according to what they actually experienced. Adverse events were monitored. The frequency of each sensation expected and experienced, as well as acupuncture sensation scores were compared. More than 60% of the subjects expected to feel sensations of penetrating (87.6% to 100%), aching (71.2% to 95.5%), tingling (87.6% to 100%), pricking (79.7% to 99.2%) and throbbing (64.2% to 91.4%). In fact, the subjects experienced sharp (60.9% to 89.1%), intense (60.9% to 89.1%), radiating (71.2% to 95.5%) and heavy (74.8% to 97.4%) sensations just as much. The subjects expected more hurting (p = 0.001), tingling (p < 0.001), pricking (p = 0.010), stinging (p = 0.012), burning (p = 0.001) and pulsing (p = 0.009) than they experienced, while more heaviness (p = 0.011) was experienced than expected. The same outcome measures were also compared between experienced and naive groups. Apart from the fact that the acupuncture-experienced participants expected to feel pricking (p = 0.030) and stinging (p = 0.002), and experienced hurting (p = 0.022) and stinging (p = 0.028) significantly less than those who had not had acupuncture before, there was no significant difference between first time and experienced subjects. The results indicate that previous experience does not affect the people's expectation and does not hinder people from experiencing Deqi. In addition, a constellation of Deqi-related acupuncture-specific sensations is more than just a general pain intensity dimension, which requires a biochemical and physiological exploration.

Acupuncture Therapy↗

Acupuncture for the relief of cancer-related pain--a systematic review.

AIMS: This systematic review summarises the existing evidence on acupuncture for cancer-related pain. METHODS: Literature searches were conducted in seven databases. All clinical studies of acupuncture, electroacupuncture and ear acupuncture in cancer patients with the main outcome measure of pain were included. Data were extracted according to pre-defined criteria by two independent reviewers and methodological quality was assessed using the Jadad scale. RESULTS: Of the seven studies included, one high quality randomised clinical trial of ear acupuncture showed statistically significant pain relief in comparison with placebo ear acupuncture. All the other studies were either non-blinded (n=2) or uncontrolled clinical trials (n=4). Most investigations suffered from methodological flaws such as inadequate study design, poor reporting of results, small sample size and overestimation of the results. CONCLUSIONS: The notion that acupuncture may be an effective analgesic adjunctive method for cancer patients is not supported by the data currently available from the majority of rigorous clinical trials. Because of its widespread acceptance, appropriately powered RCTs are needed.

Acupuncture Analgesia↗

Acupuncture for labor pain management: A systematic review.

Acupuncture is widely used to alleviate symptoms in a variety of painful conditions. In obstetrics and gynecology, acupuncture has also been applied to a range of conditions including labor pain. This systematic review aims to critically evaluate the evidence on analgesic effect of acupuncture during labor. Computerized literature searches of 7 databases were performed for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of acupuncture involving needle insertion for pain during labor. Three RCTs were identified and their methodologic quality was generally good. Two RCTs compared adjunctive acupuncture with usual care only and reported a reduction of meperidine and/or epidural analgesia. One placebo acupuncture controlled trial showed a statistically significant difference in both subjective and objective outcome measures of pain. No adverse events were reported in any of the trials. It is concluded that the evidence for acupuncture as an adjunct to conventional pain control during labor is promising but, because of the paucity of trial data, not convincing. Further research is warranted to clearly define its place in labor pain management.

Acupuncture Therapy↗

Does Deqi (needle sensation) exist?

The mechanism, by which acupuncture works is not yet clear, therefore there is no unequivocal consensus about styles and sensations of needling. To enhance the scientific base of acupuncture, needling somehow should be objectified. The term Deqi is understood to represent all or at least the main form of phenomena to acupuncture stimulation. The characteristics of Deqi, however, have always been based on a translation of original Chinese description. Hoping to find a clue to develop sham (placebo) method for subject blinding, we investigated which sensations are frequently expected and experienced, and whether or not these expectations and experiences of sensations are similar in naive subjects. The acupuncture sensation scale developed by Vincent et al. (1989) was translated into Korean. Thirty-eight healthy acupuncture naïve female volunteers (mean age 29.1, range 25-39) were asked to complete the sensation scale of acupuncture according to what they expected needling to feel like before needling. Needling was done on left Hegu (LI4) point in the hand and consisted of insertion, stimulation for 30 seconds, and removal. Directly after needling, the subjects were asked to complete the same sensation scale according to what they experienced. The subjects expected to feel hurting, penetrating, sharp, tingling, pricking and stinging, and actually experienced aching, spreading, radiating, pricking and stinging more than 60% of the time. Comparison between expectation and experience, the subjects expected more penetrating, tingling, pricking and burning than they experienced, and on the contrary experienced more aching, pulling, heavy, dull, electric and throbbing than they expected. Traditionally described sensations of Deqi are something beyond just a general pain dimension in the Korean population. Further study involving acupuncture experienced subjects or subjects from other cultures need to confirm this finding. Moreover, sham acupuncture should be studied.

Acupuncture↗

Acupuncture stimulation of the vision-related acupoint (Bl-67) increases c-Fos expression in the visual cortex of binocularly deprived rat pups.

Our previous study with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated that acupuncture stimulation of the vision-related acupoint, B1-67, activates the visual cortex of the human brain. As a further study on the effect of B1-67 acupuncture stimulation on the visual cortex, we examined c-Fos expression in binocularly deprived rat pups. Binocular deprivation significantly reduced the number of c-Fos-positive cells in the primary visual cortex, compared with that of normal control rat pups. Interestingly, acupuncture stimulation of B1-67 resulted in a significant increase in the number of c-Fos-positive cells in the primary visual cortex, while acupuncture stimulation of other acupoints less important for visual function had no significant effect on c-Fos expression in the primary visual cortex. The results suggest the possibility of vision-related acupoint (B1-67) having an influence over the activity of the primary visual cortex.

Acupuncture Points↗