Acupuncture points are sites where qi and the blood of zang-fu organs and meridians are transported. The changes in qi and blood can be reflected in these acupoints. Thus, acupuncture points not only can receive stimulation by acupuncture and moxibustion but also may reflect disorders in patients. Therefore, when there are disorders in zang-fu organs, there could be tenderness, pain, soreness, numbness, or thermosensitivity in the related acupoints. The changes can also be reflected as changes in the biophysical character of the acupoints, such as changes in the volt-ampere characteristics of the points [
This study included 101 female HMG patients from the breast clinic of Longhua Hospital, which is affiliated to the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All of them volunteered to participate in the program and signed informed consent forms. Out of these patients, 73 had bilateral HMG, 13 had only right-lateralized HMG, and 15 were only left-lateralized. The youngest patient was 21 years old and the oldest was 51; the mean age of the sample was
The diagnostic and syndrome differentiation standards adopted in 2002 at the 8th meeting of the Professional Committee for Breast Diseases of China TCM Surgery Society [
The control group consisted of women who had no mammary disease or serious heart, liver, kidney, or cerebral disease, were 18–55 years old, had normal menstruation, voluntarily participated, and showed good compliance when enrolled.
For infrared testing, a 5th generation high-performance uncooled focal plane economic infrared thermograph ThermaCAMTMP30 (FLIR, Sweden) was used. It uses the focal plane array (FPA) principle, an uncooled microbolometer, and has ultra-high thermal sensitivity (0.08°C). The temperature measuring range is 0–500°C; the IFOV, 1.3 mrad; and the wavelength range, 7.5–13
According to the national standard GB12346-90 Acupoints Location released by the State Bureau of Technical Supervision in 1990 [
Patients entered the lab, loosened their underwear, and sat down for 20 min to adapt to the environment. During this period, they are asked questions to obtain the relevant required information. After questioning, the patients exposed their testing sites, and the analyser sat 1 meter away from the testing site in a fixed position prepared to film the procedure. The infrared camera was placed right above the testing site to obtain infrared images. Figure
Infrared radiation temperature of acupoints. Bamboo stick in picture (a) points to Youmen (KI21) on both sides. In picture (b), it points to Guanyuan (CV4) and Qihai (CV6). The centre of the cross indicates the focus when the picture was taken. Data written on the top right of the picture is the temperature of the point.
The thermaCAM reporter 2000 professional analysis system, matching the infrared thermography, was used to analyse the infrared thermograph picture and obtain the skin temperature at the detected acupoints; Microsoft Excel was used to construct a database and the SPSS 11.5 (SPSS Inc., Chicago) software package was used to analyse the statistical data. We used mean and standard deviation to analyse the measurement data, group
Except for bilateral Zusanli (ST36), the infrared radiation temperature of 10 out of 12 testing points was higher than that of the healthy controls. Among these 10 testing points, the temperature of the right Rugen (ST18), Guanyuan (CV4), Qihai (CV6), and bilateral Hegu (LI4) was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls (
Infrared radiation temperature comparison of the tested points of patients and healthy controls (
Acupoints | Patients | Healthy controls |
|
|
| ||||
Left Rugen (ST18) |
|
|
1.559 | 0.126 |
Right Rugen (ST18) |
|
|
2.053 |
|
Left Qimen (LR14) |
|
|
0.662 | 0.509 |
Right Qimen (LR14) |
|
|
1.266 | 0.208 |
Left Youmen (KI21) |
|
|
1.615 | 0.113 |
Right Youmen (KI21) |
|
|
1.422 | 0.157 |
Guanyuan (CV4) |
|
|
3.717 |
|
Qihai (CV6) |
|
|
3.907 |
|
Left Zusanli (ST36) |
|
|
−0.499 | 0.618 |
Right Zusanli (ST36) |
|
|
−0.334 | 0.739 |
Left Hegu (LI4) |
|
|
2.539 |
|
Right Hegu (LI4) |
|
|
2.595 |
|
Out of 5 testing acupoints in healthy controls, the infrared radiation temperatures of Rugen (ST18) and Qimen (LR14) on the left side were higher than those on the right side, while the temperature of the other 3 acupoints on the right side was higher than those on the left side. However, the difference was not statistically significant (
Infrared radiation temperature comparison of bilateral acupoints with the same name of healthy controls (
Acupoints | Left side | Right side |
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Rugen (ST18) |
|
|
1.568 | 0.126 |
Qimen (LR14) |
|
|
1.648 | 0.109 |
Youmen (KI21) |
|
|
−0.824 | 0.416 |
Zusanli (ST36) |
|
|
−1.370 | 0.180 |
Hegu (LI4) |
|
|
−1.135 | 0.264 |
Out of 5 testing acupoints in patients, the infrared radiation temperature of Rugen (ST18), Qimen (LR14), and Youmen (KI21) on the left side was higher than that on the right side, while the temperature of the other 2 acupoints was higher on the right side than that on the left. The temperature of Youmen (KI21) on the left side was significantly higher than that on the right side (
Infrared radiation temperature comparison of bilateral acupoints with the same name of patients (
Acupoints | Left side | Right side |
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Rugen (ST18) |
|
|
0.217 | 0.829 |
Qimen (LR14) |
|
|
1.592 | 0.114 |
Youmen (KI21) |
|
|
2.709 |
|
Zusanli (ST36) |
|
|
−3.513 |
|
Hegu (LI4) |
|
|
−2.928 |
|
It’s recorded in the
There have been ancient records for Hegu (LI4) on the treatment of painful diseases.
The infrared radiation temperature of the bilateral acupoints in healthy controls was found to be symmetrical, and the raised temperatures observed of the Rugen (ST18), Guanyuan (CV4), Qihai (CV6), and Hegu (LI4) acupoints of mammary gland hyperplasia patients and the imbalance of the infrared radiation temperature of the bilateral acupoints Zusanli (ST36), Youmen (KI21), and Hegu (LI4) carried special pathological information about mammary gland hyperplasia disease. These results can be used as an auxiliary diagnosis for mammary gland hyperplasia. This experiment provides new research ideas and methods for TCM diagnosis using acupoints, the research of acupoint specificity, acupoint selection at the clinic, and the objective research on the evaluation of curative effectiveness.
This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB522901), NSFC (81320108028) and the Key Program of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China (ZYSNXD-CC-ZDXK-07).