Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine (동의생리병리학회지)

The Physiological Society of Korean Medicine and The Society of Pathology in Korean Medicine (대한동의생리학회·한의병리학회)
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Clinical Studies of Acupuncture Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease Using Neuroimaging Method: A Review of Literature

알츠하이머병의 신경영상 기법을 이용한 침치료 임상연구: 문헌고찰

  • Lee, Dong Hyuk (College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
  • Kim, Joo-Hee (Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
  • Kwon, Bo-In (Department of Pathology, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University)
  • 이동혁 (상지대학교 한의과대학) ;
  • 김주희 (상지대학교 한의과대학 침구의학교실) ;
  • 권보인 (상지대학교 한의과대학 병리학교실)
  • Received : 2020.03.30
  • Accepted : 2020.07.31
  • Published : 2020.10.25
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Abstract

The purpose of this article was to investigate the current state of studies on clinical trials of acupuncture treatment for Alzheimer's disease using neuroimaging method. We searched for clinical trials of acupuncture treatment for Alzheimer's disease(AD) and mild cognitive impairment(MCI) using neuroimaging method in the MEDLINE (Pubmed) database on March 18, 2020. Once the online search was finished, studies were selected manually by the inclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of selected articles and reviewed the neural substrates of acupuncture treatment in AD. Total ten studies were included in this study. The most frequently applied modality for AD was functional MRI. The most frequently selected acupoints for AD were KI3, LR3 and LI4. One of studies showed that acupuncture treatment could improve the symptoms of MCI. Through the analysis, we demonstrated that neuroimaging method could capture the neural substrates associated with AD. Moreover, acupuncture may induce differential response according to the disease status. Finally, real acupuncture could produce more extensive activation/deactivation than sham acupuncture. We hope that neuroimaging method can contribute to the clinical research of acupuncture treatment for AD through large-scale RCT and diverse imaging modality.

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References

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