Abstract
Acupuncture has been widely used as an alternative and complementary therapy for migraine. With the development of neuroimaging techniques, the central mechanism of acupuncture for migraine has gained increasing attention. This review aimed to analyze the study design and main findings of neuroimaging studies of acupuncture for migraine to provide the reference for future research. The original studies were collected and screened in three English databases (PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library) and four Chinese databases (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature database, the Chongqing VIP database, and Wanfang database). As a result, a total of 28 articles were included. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was the most used neuroimaging technique to explore the cerebral activities of acupuncture for migraine. This review manifested that acupuncture could elicit cerebral responses on patients with migraine, different from sham acupuncture. The results indicated that the pain systems, including the medial pain pathway, lateral pain pathway, and descending pain modulatory system, participated in the modulation of the cerebral activities of migraine by acupuncture.
Highlights
Migraine is a chronic neurological disease characterized by recurrent headaches and neurological symptoms [1]
Some research studies concentrated on study designs from different perspectives, such as different manipulation modalities of acupuncture and different subtypes of migraine; several studies applied different neuroimaging scanning techniques or used different analytical methods. e various study designs may partly contribute to different results which affect the clinical application to some degree. erefore, this review aimed to analyze the study design and summarize the main results of the published neuroimaging studies in acupuncture for migraine to deepen the understanding of the cerebral mechanism of acupuncture for migraine and provide reference and guidance for future research
Since neuroimaging techniques were used to explore the mechanisms of acupuncture, the central mechanism of acupuncture for migraine has gradually drawn the attention of investigators
Summary
Migraine is a chronic neurological disease characterized by recurrent headaches and neurological symptoms [1]. Using the neuroimaging techniques to explore the underlying mechanism of acupuncture for migraine has attracted the increasing interest of investigators. Some research studies concentrated on study designs from different perspectives, such as different manipulation modalities of acupuncture and different subtypes of migraine; several studies applied different neuroimaging scanning techniques or used different analytical methods. E various study designs may partly contribute to different results which affect the clinical application to some degree. Erefore, this review aimed to analyze the study design and summarize the main results of the published neuroimaging studies in acupuncture for migraine to deepen the understanding of the cerebral mechanism of acupuncture for migraine and provide reference and guidance for future research Some research studies concentrated on study designs from different perspectives, such as different manipulation modalities of acupuncture and different subtypes of migraine; several studies applied different neuroimaging scanning techniques or used different analytical methods. e various study designs may partly contribute to different results which affect the clinical application to some degree. erefore, this review aimed to analyze the study design and summarize the main results of the published neuroimaging studies in acupuncture for migraine to deepen the understanding of the cerebral mechanism of acupuncture for migraine and provide reference and guidance for future research
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