EAR ACUPUNCTURE AND FMRI

Twenty years ago the hypothesis was introduced that acupuncture stimulation may activate specific areas of the brain. However only recently this diagnostic procedure has become more and more appealing for investigating some crucial aspects of acupuncture, such as the comparison between “verum” and “sham” acupuncture, the intensity of stimulation (with or without deqi effect), the differences between points located on the same meridian or on different meridians. Most studies of the literature suggest that acupuncture can modulate the activity of the brain, both with activating and deactivating specific areas.