Near‐infrared spectroscopy for objectifying cerebral effects of needle and laserneedle acupuncture

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Litscher, Gerhard^; | Schikora, Detlef

Affiliations: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Research in Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 29, A‐8036 Graz, Austria | Department of Physics and Optoelectronics, University of Paderborn, D‐33095 Paderborn, Germany

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel.: +43 316 385 3907, ‐83907; Fax: +43 316 385 3908; E‐mail: gerhard.litscher@uni‐graz.at; URLs: www.litscher.info, www.litscher.at, www.neuromonitoring.org.

Abstract: Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been successfully used in this study to objectify cerebral alterations in oxyhemoglobin and desoxyhemoglobin, due to manual needle acupuncture and laserneedle acupuncture, in 88 healthy volunteers mean age 25.7±4.0 ($\overline{x}$ ±SD) years (19–38 years). Results from Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, Korean and Chinese hand acupuncture, ear acupuncture, combinations of the different acupuncture methods and placebo needling are presented. NIRS seems to be able to shed some light upon the functioning of the different acupuncture methods.

Keywords: Near‐infrared spectroscopy, needle acupuncture, laserneedle® acupuncture, High‐Tech Acupuncture®, brain function, Computer‐Controlled Acupuncture® (CCA®), Computer‐Controlled Laserpuncture (CCL)

Journal: Spectroscopy, vol. 16, no. 3-4, pp. 335-342, 2002