Meta-Analysis of Neuroimaging Evidence for Acupuncture in Chronic Pain, 2016-2025

Seventeen high-quality RCTs comprising 750 patients were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The work, authored by Xin Ma and updated in 2026, synthesizes randomized controlled trial evidence from 2016 to 2025 to quantify acupuncture's effects on brain networks and clinical outcomes in patients with chronic pain.

Use Cases

• Validate clinical efficacy of acupuncture based on reported Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score reductions.
• Analyze brain network modulation based on neuroimaging indicators in regions like the anterior cingulate cortex and insula.
• Explore associations between neuroimaging changes and clinical pain relief rates mentioned in the results.
• Assess evidence quality for different chronic pain subtypes, such as osteoarticular pain and migraine.

Strengths

• Includes 17 randomized controlled trials and data from 750 patients, providing a quantitative synthesis.
• Reports specific meta-analysis results, including mean differences and p-values for key brain regions and clinical scores.
• Evidence quality was assessed using the GRADE framework, with the pain relief rate rated as high.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 13.4 KB DOCX document, indicating a summary report rather than raw underlying data.
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, limiting direct analysis of the primary trial data.
• The description notes constraints including a limited number of studies, heterogeneity in pain subtypes and neuroimaging modalities, and short follow-up durations.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs identified from English and Chinese databases.

Time Range

2016 to 2025

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-01 13:46:45.

Geography

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