Electroacupuncture alleviates pain after total knee arthroplasty through regulating neuroplasticity: A resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Abstract

Introduction:We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of electroacupuncture in relieving acute pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and related mechanism. Methods: In this randomized, single-blind, and sham-acupuncture controlled study. Forty patients with postoperative acute pain were recruited and randomly divided electroacupuncture group (n = 20) and sham-acupuncture group (n = 20) from November 2020 to October 2021. All patients received electroacupuncture or shamacupuncture for 5 days after TKA. Their brain regions were scanned with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after intervention. Pain was scaled. Another 40 matched healthy controls underwent scanning once. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values was compared. Pearson's correlation analysis was utilized to explore the correlation of ALFF with clinical variables in patients after intervention. Results: Compared with the HCs, patients with acute pain following TKA had significantly decreased ALFF value in right middle frontal gyrus, right supplementary motor area, bilateral precuneus, right calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex, and left triangular part of inferior frontal gyrus (false discovery rate corrected p < .05). Patients had higher ALFF value in bilateral precuneus, right cuneus, right angular gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus after electroacupuncture Bingxin Kang, Chi Zhao, and Jie Ma contributed equally.

Research Status and Prospects of Acupuncture in Perioperative Medicine Over the Past Decade: A Bibliometric Analysis

“… 28 , 59 Kang et al believed EA is more suitable than traditional manual acupuncture for scientific research with more standardized parameters. 60 A growing number of clinical studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of EA and TEAS in the perioperative period and the related mechanism research has gradually penetrated the molecular level of the central neural system. 61 …”

“…28,59 Kang et al believed EA is more suitable than traditional manual acupuncture for scientific research with more standardized parameters. 60 A growing number of clinical studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of EA and TEAS in the perioperative period and the related mechanism research has gradually penetrated the molecular level of the central neural system. 61 In a word, this study analyzed the general information and identified the research hotspots and trends of acupuncture in perioperative medicine in the past decade by bibliometric analysis.…”

Clinical observation and mechanism of acupuncture on amnestic mild cognitive impairment based on the gut-brain axis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Recently, increasing number of randomized clinical trial (36,60,61) have recruited healthy volunteers and determined the pathological features in the population of patients by comparing them with patients. Patients with MCI were reported to have altered levels of peripheral and cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory markers, abnormal cognitive-related brain network function, and distinct gut microbiota composition compared with healthy controls (62)(63)(64).…”

“…Previous studies (34,35) have suggested that 15 participants should be included in each group to ensure a stable statistical effect for brain fMRI data analysis. In most similar studies (36)(37)(38) which used fMRI, gut microbiota, or inflammatory cytokines as indicators to explore the mechanisms of acupuncture, the sample size was mostly 15-20 participants per group. Thus, the sample size in our study will be 20 participants per group.…”