Abstract
Objective
The effect of acupuncture (ACP) on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) is unclear. Single-photon emission computed tomography studies on three patients with dystonia were performed before and after ACP treatment to test the contention that ACP affects rCBF.
Methods Pre-ACP and post-ACP CBF study were performed on the same day;99mTc ethyl cysteinate dimer was injected for each study. rCBF images were analyzed using a three-dimensional stereotaxic ROI template (3DSRT) to objectively measure rCBF. We evaluated rCBF bilaterally in five segments related to the pathophysiology of dystonia (1, superior frontal; 2, middle and inferior frontal; 3, primary sensorimotor; 4, lenticular nucleus; and 5, thalamus). More than 10% left-right asymmetry in rCBF over three continuous slices was defined as significant laterality. Post-ACP rCBF and laterality were evaluated with the pre-ACP rCBF study acting as a control in each subject.
Results
The clinical effect of ACP was remarkable in all patients and rCBF increased in most segments. PreACP rCBF exhibited significant laterality in eight segments of the three patients. Laterality reversed in seven of these segments and resolved in the remaining segment after ACP. Pre-ACP rCBF laterality was not preserved in any segment after ACP. The remaining five segments exhibited laterality only after ACP. In total, after ACP, 13 of 15 segments demonstrated a change in CBF that was greater unilaterally.
Conclusions
ACP results in an increase in CBF that is greater unilaterally. We think that unilateral change in CBF may be correlated with the action of ACP on the central nervous system in patients with dystonia.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yanagisawa N. What is dystonia?—Concept, symptoms and classification. No no Kagaku 2002; 24: 811–820.
Marsden CD, Obeso JA, Zarranz JJ, Lang AE. The anatomical basis of symptomatic hemidystonia.Brain 1985; 108: 463–183.
Calne DB, Lange AE. Secondary dystonia.Adv Neurol 1988;50:9–33.
Obeso JA, Giménez-Roldán S. Clinicopathological correlation in symptomatic dystonia.Adv Neurol 1988; 50: 113–122.
Chase TN, Tamminga CA, Burrows H. Positron emission tomographic studies of regional cerebral glucose metabolism in idiopathic dystonia.Adv Neurol 1988; 50: 237–241.
Otsuka M, Ichiya Y, Shima F, Kuwabara Y, Sasaki M, Fukumura T, et al. Increased striatal18F-dopa uptake and normal glucose metabolism in idiopathic dystonia syndrome.J Neurol Sci 1992; 111: 195–199.
Karbe H, Holthoff VA, Rudolf J, Herholz K, Heiss WD. Positron emission tomography demonstrates frontal cortex and basal ganglia hypometabolism in dystonia.Neurology 1992; 42: 1540–1544.
Galardi G, Perani D, Grassi F, Bressi S, Amadio S, Antoni M, et al. Basal ganglia and thalamo-cortical hypermetabo-lism in patients with spasmodic torticollis.Acta Neurol Scand 1996; 94: 172–176.
Han JS, Terenius L. Neurochemical basis of acupuncture analgesia.Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 1982; 22: 193–220.
Kiser RS, Khatami MJ, Gatchel RJ, Huang XY, Bhatia K, Altshuler KZ. Acupuncture relief of chronic pain syndrome correlates with increased plasma met-enkephalin concentrations.Lancet 1983; 2: 1394–1396.
Hsieh JC, Tu CH, Chen FP, Chen MC, Yeh TC, Cheng HC, et al. Activation of the hypothalamus characterizes the acupuncture stimulation at the analgesic point in human: a positron emission tomography study.Neurosci Lett 2001; 13; 307: 105–108.
Cho ZH, Chung SC, Jones JP, Park JB, Park HJ, Lee HJ, et al. New findings of the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices using functional MRI.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1998; 3: 2670–2673.
Takeuchi R, Matsuda H, Yonekura Y, Sakahara H, Konishi J. Noninvasive quantitative measurements of regional cerebral blood flow using technetium-99m-l,l-ECD SPECT activated with acetazolamide: quantification analysis by equal-volume-split99mTc-ECD consecutive SPECT method.J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1997; 17: 1020–1032.
Matsuda H, Mizumura S, Soma T, Takemura N. Conversion of brain SPECT images between different collimators and reconstruction processes for analysis using statistical parametric mapping.Nucl Med Commun 2004; 25: 67–74,
Takeuchi R, Yonekura Y, Matsuda H, Konishi J. Usefulness of a three-dimensional stereotaxic ROI template on anatomically standardised99mTc-ECD SPET.Eur J Nucl Med 2002; 29: 331–341.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ha-Kawa, S.K., Yoshida, T., Yague, T. et al. Acupuncture-induced cerebral blood flow responses in dystonia. Ann Nucl Med 20, 83–87 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02985597
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02985597