• Ruirui Sun, Xiaojuan Hong, Jing Guo, Shuai Yin, Peiming Feng, Lei Lan, Du Lei, Xiaoyan Liu, Xueling Suo, Tao Yin, Tingting Zhang, Liuyang Huang, Feifei Gao, Qiyong Gong, Fanrong Liang, and Fang Zeng.
• Acupuncture and Tuina School/The 3rd Teaching Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 37# Shierqiao Road, Chengdu, 610075, Sichuan, China.
• Trials. 2018 Jul 13; 19 (1): 373.

BackgroundThe mechanism of the long-lasting effect and the relationship between the long-lasting effect and the deqi sensation, which is the key of achieving the acupuncture effect, has not been well investigated. This trial focuses on investigating the possible central mechanism of the long-lasting effect influenced by the deqi sensation.MethodsA randomized controlled functional brain imaging trial is currently being conducted in Sichuan, China. In total 105 functional dyspepsia (FD) patients will be allocated into three groups: an acupuncture with deqi group, an acupuncture without deqi group, and a wait-list group. This trial will include a 2-week baseline period, a 4-week treatment period, and a 4-week follow-up period. During the 4-week treatment, patients in two acupuncture groups will receive 20 sessions of acupuncture treatment with or without deqi. The Nepean Dyspepsia Index (NDI) and the short form Leeds Dyspepsia Questionnaire (SF-LDQ) will be used to evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment at baseline, the end of treatment, and the end of the follow-up. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans will be performed to detect cerebral functional changes in 25 patients in each group at three time points mentioned above. The clinical data and fMRI data will be analyzed, respectively. Correlation analysis will be conducted to investigate the relationship between cerebral functional changes and symptom improvement.DiscussionThe results of this trial will allow us to compare the changes of acupuncture therapeutic effect at three time points (the baseline vs. the end of treatment vs. the end of follow-up), and investigate the potential central mechanism of the long-lasting effect influenced by acupuncture with deqi. This trial aims to re-identify the long-lasting effect of acupuncture and investigate its central mechanism, and to further explore the central influence of deqi sensation on the long-lasting effect.Trial RegistrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry, IDF: ChiCTR-IOR-15006523 . Registered on 5 June 2015.

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