Objective. The central mechanism of acupuncture for primary dysmenorrhea was explored by summarizing the changes in different regional networks of the brain induced by acupuncture stimulation by analyzing the existing studies. Methods. The original studies were collected and selected from three English databases such as PubMed and four Chinese databases as China Knowledge Network (CNKI). The main keyword clusters are neuroimaging, acupuncture, and primary dysmenorrhea. Results. The literature review yielded 130 possibly qualified studies, and 23 articles fulfilled the criteria for inclusion. Regarding the type of acupuncture studies, 6 moxibustion studies and 17 manual acupuncture studies for primary dysmenorrhea were included. Based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI), and positron emission tomography-computer tomography techniques (PET-CT), one or more analysis methods such as amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), functional connectivity (FC), and independent components analysis (ICA) were used. The results are summarized. To summarize the high-frequency brain area alterations observed in patients with acupuncture-induced primary dysmenorrhea were the anterior cingulate gyrus, thalamus, insula, precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, postcentral gyrus, putamen, and cerebellum. Conclusion. The results suggest that the mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea is the involvement of networks regulating different areas of the brain in the analgesic effects of acupuncture. The brain regions involved in primary dysmenorrhea acupuncture analgesia were mainly located in the pain matrix, default mode network, salience network, and limbic system.
Background: An increasing number of acupuncture clinical trials are being registered, but the reports of results and data transparency are unclear. This paper aims to analyze and evaluate the current state of registration and reports of acupuncture clinical studies and seek feasible solutions to improve the quality of acupuncture clinical studies, leading to minimizing waste of public resources and effectively providing a reliable evidence-based basis for clinical practice. Methods: This paper will focus on the acupuncture clinical trials that met the criteria in relevant studies registered and published during the period between 1 Jan 2013 to 31 Dec 2021.The search and registration platforms were the Clinicaltrials.gov and the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR). The literature search platforms were Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, WanFang, VIP, and China Biomedical Literature Database (SinoMed). Results: A total of 403 trials were included in ChiCTR and 519 trials were included in Clinicaltrials.gov. The overall reporting rate of acupuncture clinical trial results from the two registration centres was was 25%. Clinicaltrials.gov reporting rate was 12% and that from ChiCTR was 41%. Conclusion: The number of acupuncture clinical trial registrations is steadily increasing, but the reporting rate of trial results is relatively low and the transparency of data is not ideal. Due to the fact that the unavailability of the registered trial results caused a waste of research resources and funds, there is a shortage of research in the relevant area. Therefore, first of all, researchers should put more attention on clinical trial reports in acupuncture and respect science; secondly, it is recommended to set up a research progress tracker on registration platforms accessible to the public users, which contributes to the supervision of research projects; at the same time, the journal is suggested that also adjust the evaluation criteria for reporting the negative results to reduce the probability of results bias; most importantly, the government is recommended to optimize the closing review, strengthen the monitoring of core outcome indicators, standardize clinical reports to reduce the waste of public resources.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.