Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2021 Feb 5;100(5):e23804.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000023804.

The difference in heat transport characteristics of the heart and lung meridians: A comparative study of COPD patients and healthy subjects

Xiaoyu Li  1   2 , Yongliang Jiang  2 , Hantong Hu  1 , Yajun Zhang  2 , Jiali Lou  2 , Xiaofen He  2 , Jing Sun  2 , Yuanyuan Wu  1 , Junfan Fang  2 , Xiaomei Shao  2 , Jianqiao Fang  2
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

The difference in heat transport characteristics of the heart and lung meridians: A comparative study of COPD patients and healthy subjects

Xiaoyu Li et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Background: The vast majority of previous studies focused on the relationship between 1 meridian and 1 organ, and the comparison and specificity between 2 meridians is rarely explored. Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the heat transport characteristics between 2 different meridians and the specificity between them will also be investigated.

Methods: The Lung and Heart meridians are chosen for comparison of 2 different meridians. We will enroll 120 subjects and divide them into the healthy control group, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) group and healthy intervention group, in a 1:1:1 ratio. Infrared thermography (IRT) will be used to assess the heat transport characteristics of the Heart and Lung meridians. The specificity for the meridian-visceral association will be investigated by comparing the difference in heat transport characteristic between the Heart and Lung meridians in the healthy control group and COPD group. Meanwhile, moxibustion will be given to subjects in the Heart meridian and Lung meridian respectively in the healthy intervention group to verify the specificity for the surface-surface association.

Results: The primary outcomes will be the temperature of corresponding sites along the Heart and Lung meridians.

Conclusion: This study will verify the specificity between different meridians by comparing the difference in heat transport characteristic. The findings will guide the selection of acupoints to optimize the therapeutic effect of acupuncture and help determine whether IRT could be used to assist in the diagnosis of COPD.

Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Approval No. ZSLL-KY-2019-001G-01).

Trial registration numbers: NCT04046588.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design flowchart. Note: COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gu FF, Wang YP, Wang GJ, et al. Measurement of the resistivity of extracellular and intracellular fluids in lower leg at different electrode distances. Beijing Biomed Eng 2017;36:601–6.
    1. Ahn AC, Wu J, Badger GJ, et al. Electrical impedance along connective tissue planes associated with acupuncture meridians. BMC Complement Altern Med 2005;5:10–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kramer S, Winterhalter K, Schober G, et al. Characteristics of electrical skin resistance at acupuncture points in healthy humans. J Altern Complement Med 2009;15:495–500. - PubMed
    1. Ohkubo M, Hamaoka T, Kaneko Y, et al. The effect of acupuncture on muscle blood volume and oxygenation. In Tech 2011;3:35–48.
    1. Jang J-H, Kim H, Jung I, et al. Acupuncture for improving gait disturbance in Parkinson's disease: a study protocol of pilot randomized controlled trial. Eur J Integr Med 2018;20:16–21.

Publication types

Associated data