Hiding in Plain Sight-ancient Chinese anatomy.

For thousands of years, scientists have studied human anatomy by dissecting bodies. Our knowledge of their findings is limited, however, both by the subsequent loss of many of the oldest texts, and by a tendency toward a Eurocentric perspective in medicine. As a discipline, anatomy tends to be much more familiar with ancient Greek texts than with those from India, China, or Persia. Here, we show that the Mawangdui medical texts, entombed in the Mawangdui burial site in Changsha, China 168 BCE, are the oldest surviving anatomical atlas in the world. These medical texts both predate and inform the later acupuncture texts which have been the foundation for acupuncture practice in the subsequent two millennia. The skills necessary to interpret them are diverse, requiring the researcher firstly to read the original Chinese, and secondly to perform the anatomical investigations that allow a re-viewing of the structures that the texts refer to. Acupuncture meridians are considered to be esoteric in nature, but these texts are clearly descriptions of the physical body. As such, they represent a previously hidden chapter in the history of anatomy, and a new perspective on acupuncture.

Acupuncture in the management of trigeminal neuralgia.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to assess the standing of acupuncture as a clinical tool in the management of trigeminal neuralgia against the current first-line drug treatment (carbamazepine) and the most effective surgery (microvascular decompression (MVD)). METHODS: Data regarding efficacy, side effects and cost were compiled for each of these three modalities from the PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. Patient stress was estimated according to Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). RESULTS: Acupuncture was not significantly more effective than its corresponding control (p = 0.088), but had the greatest efficacy (mean ± 95% confidence interval) of the modalities considered (86.5% ± 5.6% compared to surgery (79.3% ± 7.7%) and pharmacotherapy (71.7% ± 2.5%), respectively). Acupuncture also had fewer mean reported side effects (22.7% ± 5.9%) compared with surgery (25.3% ± 12.6%) and pharmacotherapy (88.8% ± 25.0%), and the lowest cost; after 5 years, the cost of acupuncture was estimated to be £750, compared to £1507.73 for carbamazepine and £4878.42 for MVD. Acupuncture was the least stressful according to the SRRS (53 points), whereas surgery was second most stressful (153 points) and pharmacotherapy was the most stressful intervention to patients (217 points). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture appears more effective than pharmacotherapy or surgery. Statistical analysis of side effects was not possible due to inconsistent reporting protocols, but the data suggest that acupuncture is considerably safer than pharmacotherapy or surgery. Acupuncture also appears to be the least expensive therapeutic modality to deliver long-term (65 weeks onwards), and our analysis indicated that it was less stressful to patients than pharmacotherapy or surgery. Further study into these areas and the practicality of its availability in the UK National Health Service (NHS) and other health systems is recommended.

Was acupuncture developed by Han Dynasty Chinese anatomists?

Anatomical dissection has begun to reveal striking similarities between gross anatomical structures and the system of nomenclature used in traditional Chinese acupuncture. This paper argues that acupuncture point nomenclature is rooted in systematic anatomical investigation of cadaveric specimens, and that acupuncture points and meridians are purposefully named to reflect observable physical form. Two types of evidence are compared: observations of physical structures based on anatomical dissection, and translation and analysis of original Chinese texts. Evidence is contextualized through in-depth practical understanding of acupuncture. Points designated as [Chinese character] tian (heavenly/superior), [Chinese character] xia (below/inferior), [Chinese character] liao (bone-hole), [Chinese character] fei (flying), [Chinese character] wei (bend), and [Chinese character] xi (mountain stream/ravine) are investigated. These acupuncture point names: (a) specify position; (b) reflect function and/or form; (c) indicate homologous structures; (d) mark unusual structures; and/or (e) describe the physical appearance of a deep (dissected) structure by likening it to a homologous everyday object. Results raise intriguing possibilities for developing an understanding of acupuncture points and meridians firmly based in the material and functional anatomy of the human body. Such an understanding has the potential to open new fields of thought about functional anatomy. It also has implications for future investigations into the mechanisms of acupuncture, and gives some insights into the possible origins of this iconic area of Chinese medicine.

Chong meridian an ancient Chinese description of the vascular system?

The objectives of this research are, first, to establish if the extraordinary acupuncture meridian known as Chong, Penetrating Vessel or Sea of Blood, is in essence a description of certain macroscopic parts of the underlying vascular system and, second, by extension, to show that it is likely that cadaveric dissection would have been used as a tool to arrive at this understanding. Generally accepted scholarly opinion holds that the ancient Chinese rarely used dissection in order to explore the anatomy of the human body, and that the meridians are therefore invisible metaphysical structures corresponding to lines drawn on the body. However, the seminal text, 'The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine', describes using palpation to examine the living and dissection to examine the dead. This implies that the original authors of these texts were observing physical structures visible to the naked eye. Dissection has therefore been used to compare the descriptions of the Chong meridian in 'The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine' with the vascular anatomy of the human body. Fifteen acupuncture points located on various different ordinary meridians but bearing the same name, Chong, were also examined to see if they bore any relationship to the vascular system. The dissections clearly show that the Chong meridian correlates to certain main blood vessels in the body, in particular the vena cava. Similarly, most Chong acupuncture points have a strong correspondence with blood vessels, marking terminal arteries on the hands, feet and forehead and anastomoses on the face, body and feet. These findings strongly suggest that the ancient Chinese texts relating to this meridian are likely to have been a 'description' of the vascular system. Furthermore, the ancient Chinese apparently had a high degree of anatomical skill in the practice of dissection and acute powers of observation.