Ultrasonography in Acupuncture: Potential Uses for Education and Research

Ultrasound has been commonly used to guide clinical procedures in Western medicine, such as peripheral nerve blocks, biopsies, and fluid aspiration. Ultrasound is a useful tool because it is non-invasive, allows real-time visualisation of body images, and poses no risk to the human body, as it uses sound waves that are generally safe. In addition to guiding clinical procedures, ultrasound has been used to train medical students to perform clinical examinations.1 From a review of the literature, only one study has explored the use of ultrasound for acupuncture, and this focused on detecting soft-tissue displacement from movement of the needle.2 No study has explored the use of ultrasound in demonstrating the relationship between an acupuncture needle and the surrounding anatomical structures real-time in vivo. The aim of our study was to evaluate its feasibility and to discuss the implications for education and research. This study was conducted on a human cadaveric hand. Ultrasound scans were conducted using a Siemens Acuson P300 ultrasound system with a …