Image formation of brain function in patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis treated with moxibustion

OBJECTIVES： Functional magnetic resonance imag- ing （fMRI） technology was used to study changes to the resting state blood flow in the brains of pa- tients with knee osteoarthritis （KOA） before and af- ter treatment with moxibustion at the acupoint of the left Dubi （ST 35） and to probe the cerebral mechanism underlying the effect of moxibustion. METHODS： The resting state brain function of 30 patients with left KOA was scanned with fMRI be- fore and after treatment with moxibustion. The ana- lytic methods of fractional amplitude of low fre- quency fluctuation （fALFF） and regional homoge- neity （ReHo） were used to observe changes in rest- ing state brain function. RESULTS： The fALFF values of the right cerebrum,extra-nucleus, left cerebellum, left cerebrum and white matter of patients after moxibustion treat- ment were higher than before treatment, and the fALFF values of the precentral gyrus, frontal lobe and occipital lobe were lower than before treat- ment （P〈0.05, K≥85）. The ReHo values of the thala- mus, extra-nucleus and parietal lobe of patients were much higher than those before moxibustion treatment, and the ReHo values of the right cere- brum, left cerebrum and frontal lobe were lower than before treatment （P〈0.05, K≥85）. CONCLUSION： The influence of moxibustion on ob- vious changes in brain regions basically conforms to the way that pain and warmth is transmitted in the body, and the activation of sensitive systems in the body may be objective evidence of channel transmission. The regulation of brain function by moxibustion is not in a single brain region but rath- er in a network of many brain regions.