Korean J Med Phys.  2009 Dec;20(4):277-289.

Effects of the Variability of Individual Data on the Group Results; an Acupuncture Study Using fMRI

• Bae SI
• Jahng GH
• Ryu CW
• Lim S

Abstract

Recently, functional MRI has been used to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of acupuncture and the specificity of acupoint. The group data tend to be regarded as more important than the individual data in the most of previous studies. This study was designed to investigate the effect of the variability of individual data on the group results. A functional MRI (fMRI) of the whole brain was performed in fifteen healthy subjects during placebo and acupuncture stimulations at the ST36 acupoint. After remaining at rest for 30 seconds, the acupuncture was inserted and twisted at the rate of 2 Hz for 45 seconds and then the acupuncture was removed immediately. This process was repeated three times. Individual and group analyses were performed by voxel-based analyses using SPM2 software. Visual inspections of the activation and deactivation maps from individual sessions have shown the large variability across fifteen subjects. This means that the group data reflected the brain activation responses of only a few subjects. We suggest that the individual data should be presented to demonstrate the effect of acupuncture.

Keyword

Acupuncture stimulation; Functional MRI; ST36 (Zusanli); Individual analysis

MeSH Terms

Acupuncture
Acupuncture Points
Brain
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Sensitivity and Specificity