下腰痛患者针刺治疗脑功能网络的小世界拓扑特性

目的:利用静息态fMRI探讨针刺治疗下腰痛患者脑功能网络的小世界拓扑特性.方法:纳入下腰痛患者20例,针刺委中及大肠俞穴,分别于治疗前及治疗14 d后行静息态fMRI扫描,构建全脑功能网络,分析针刺前后聚类系数(CP)、最短路径长度(LP)、局部信息交换效率(Elocal)和全局信息交换效率(Eglobal)的拓扑特性...

Small-world topological characteristics of the brain functional networks in patients with low back pain which treated by acupuncture

Objective:To explore the topological characteristics of small-world of the brain functional networks in patients with low back pain which treated by acupuncture.Methods:Totally 20 patients with low back pain were involved.With the treatment of acupuncture at Weizhong and Dachangyu acupoints from the same experienced acupuncturist.Resting-state fMRI data were acquired respectively before and after 14 days treatment,and the whole brain functional networks were constructed.The small-world topological characteristics including CP,LP,Elocal,Eglobal were analyzed before and after acupuncture.The visual analogue score(VAS)and JOA low back pain table were used to evaluate the clinical efficacy of acupuncture.Results:VAS scores showed relief of pain symptoms of low back pain by acupuncture.JOA scores suggested that acupuncture was effective in treating low back pain.Within the range of 0.2≤sparsity≤0.3,the CP,Elocal and Eglobal were negatively correlated with the threshold,while LP was positively correlated with the threshold before and after treatment.The CP and Elocal increased obviously after treatment,and the differences were significant(both P<0.05).Conclusions:The CP and Elocal increase after acupuncture treatment,and the small-world topological characteristics of whole brain functional network vary before and after acupuncture,which is helpful to explore the mechanism of acupuncture treatment.