The difference in heat transport characteristics of the heart and lung meridians

Abstract

Background: The vast majority of previous studies focused on the relationship between 1 meridian and 1 organ, and the comparison and specificity between 2 meridians is rarely explored. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the heat transport characteristics between 2 different meridians and the specificity between them will also be investigated. Methods: The Lung and Heart meridians are chosen for comparison of 2 different meridians. We will enroll 120 subjects and divide them into the healthy control group, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) group and healthy intervention group, in a 1:1:1 ratio. Infrared thermography (IRT) will be used to assess the heat transport characteristics of the Heart and Lung meridians. The specificity for the meridian-visceral association will be investigated by comparing the difference in heat transport characteristic between the Heart and Lung meridians in the healthy control group and COPD group. Meanwhile, moxibustion will be given to subjects in the Heart meridian and Lung meridian respectively in the healthy intervention group to verify the specificity for the surface-surface association. Results: The primary outcomes will be the temperature of corresponding sites along the Heart and Lung meridians. Conclusion: This study will verify the specificity between different meridians by comparing the difference in heat transport characteristic. The findings will guide the selection of acupoints to optimize the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and help determine whether IRT could be used to assist in the diagnosis of COPD. Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Approval No. ZSLL-KY-2019-001G-01). Trial registration numbers: NCT04046588.

Global trends and performances of infrared imaging technology studies on acupuncture: a bibliometric analysis

“…Cited reference Author and publication year acupoint skin temperature between patients and the general population, the temperature difference between the unaffected and affected sides or the temperature difference in the patient's own treatment (Liu et al, 2020;Li et al, 2021;Reddy et al, 2023;Tu et al, 2023;Wang et al, 2023). An article published in 2012 shows asthma patients had significantly lower overall infrared radiation intensity at the left Taiyuan (LU 9) than that of healthy volunteers which suggested that IRT detection of acupoint temperature has a potential role in the diagnosis of diseases (Zhou et al, 2012).…”