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Objectives : The aim of this paper is to develop acupuncture needle heating system by utilizing the new method which uses high frequency(HF) time-varying magnetic field. Also, it is possible to make an assessment for reliability and clinical significance of the system. Methods : We designed the system with solenoid coils for generation of HF time-varying magnetic field that oscillates at 150 kHz. Acupuncture needles are quickly magnetized and heated by 150 kHz. We assessed clinical significance of system, such as body temperature, pressure pulse waveform. Results : Temperature of acupuncture needle increased up to 60 degree. In the result for clinical significance of system, in case of manual acupuncture stimulation(MAS), body temperature change was 0.373 o C± 0.224(p＜0.05), rate of pulse energy change increased about 7.6%. In case of warm acupuncture stimulation(WAS), body temperature change was 0.645 o C±0.281(p＜0.05), rate of pulse energy change remarkably increased about 35.9%. Conclusions : We confirm that the system is able to be applied clinically to various warm acupuncture needle therapy in the area of oriental medicine.

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Objectives : Recently, people who have normal brachial blood pressure(BP) are being threatened by high-risk disease such as stroke. The aim of this study is to suggest that new method to assess systemic circulation. It can be performed by analyzing optimal blood pulse wave on 3 sites belonging to subjects that have normal BP. Methods : We respectively extracted main peaks(h1) of optimal blood pulse wave on left/right temporal artery(LR1=h1), radial artery(LR2=h1) and dorsalis pedis artery(LR3=h1). We obtained h1 from 30 subjects who are discreetly chosen and have normal BP. Main peak(h1) can be extracted by using 3D pulse imaging analyser(DMP-1000＋, DAEYOMEDI Co., Korea) that has 5-level pressure method. We analyzed the ratio of [LR1/LR2] and [LR3/LR2]. Results : In the case of male group, the results are [LR1/LR2=0.7100.177] and [LR3/LR2=0.9290.317]. In the case of female group, the results are [LR1/LR2=0.6680.121] and [LR3/LR2=0.7050.195]. Especially, it is statistically verified that the result of ratio [LR3/LR2] is much higher in male group than in female group(p＜0.05). Conclusions : We suggested the standard ratio of [LR1/LR2] and [LR3/LR2] for normal subjects, respectively. It can be adopted as a new method to evaluate the systemic circulation.

We developed a temperature-controllable acupuncture (TCA) system incorporating a high-frequency electromagnetic field to reduce the burn risk posed by traditional acupuncture combined with moxibustion method. Our technique can control the acupuncture needle temperature safely and appropriately. We designed a solenoid-type electrode and a 150-kHz high-frequency electromagnetic generator. Regarding the system performance, we found that the time required to reach 42 °C is only 52 seconds compared with traditional acupuncture combined moxibustion method which takes 150–270 seconds. In addition, we conducted a pilot study involving 20 participants to examine the possibility of clinical application. We performed manual acupuncture and TCA on the LI9, LI10, and TE5 acupoints, and only the acupunctures of TCA group were heated using the developed system at 38–40 °C. In addition, we measured the hand-temperature and blood-flow velocity before and after stimulation to determine their variability. The hand temperatures increased after stimulation in both groups, but only the TCA group exhibited a significant difference (p=0.001). The blood-flow velocities of the two groups exhibited different patterns. The blood-flow velocity was increased by 6.3 % for the TCA group (p=0.114), but decreased by -12.78 % for the manual acupuncture group (p=0.011). We found that this new method is not only safe and convenient, but also precise and effective. Moreover, an electromagnetic field has various therapeutic effects and, thus, may induce its own positive benefits.