THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 20, Number 3, 2014, pp.

215216 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/acm.2013.0150

Letters to the Editor

No, There Is No Conclusive Scientic Evidence for Visualization of Meridians at the Moment
Gerhard Litscher, MSc, PhD, MDsc

Dear Editor, In the last several years, there has been an explosion in Western biomedical knowledge. Very impressive innovations in new therapies and medical procedures, as well as innovative capabilities that improve patient survival, have arisen. However, the costs for this quality of care have increased dramatically. More than ten years ago, Frank Stronach, the Austrian founder and former chairman of Magna International (Aurora, Ontario, Canada) and main sponsor of our research unit, stated, Healthcare spending has failed to keep up with the needs of an aging population. People over age 65 consume 40% of the healthcare budget, even though they comprise only 12% of the population.1 With new methods, e.g., integrative laser medicine, and new innovative products at a better price, Stronach noted, healthcare costs can be limited.1 Before this can happen in some small areas, however, we have to collect basic knowledge about the mechanisms underlying the different methods. When using innovative procedures in the eld of Traditional Chinese Medicine in general and acupuncture in particular, we also have to deal with the basic questions of What are meridians? Is there a technical possibility to visualize them? These questions are important because acupuncture is based on a meridianal theory, which incorporates a system of channels through which vital energy, or Qi, ows.2 This statement was made by Professor John Longhurst from the University of California at Irvine. In his article Dening Meridians: A Modern Basis of Understanding, he notes that, for the moment, the peripheral and central nervous system can be considered to be the most rational basis for dening meridians.2 A search of the literature concerning meridians in the commonly used database PubMed yields the results shown in Figure 1 and illustrates the centrality of meridian theory to Chinese medicine. There have also been several more recent articles, which do not need to be reviewed here, concerning the principle of meridians.24 Each of these articles concludes that meridian theory is a major part of Chinese medicine and has guided acupuncture and its use in clinical practice for thousands of years.4 Meridian theory describes many important concepts about rules of human body function and regulation, but it is very different from the basic concepts of Western medicine.4

Some years ago, the author of this letter wrote several publications in which he found that thermography fails to visualize meridian structures.5,6 Further studies utilizing a human cadaver served to reinforce these ndings.7 Up to now, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no new publication on this topic. In a recent guest editorial, however, the author of this letter asked the question Are female and male meridians different?8 Some scientic data as well as some spontaneous thoughts were presented in this editorial. It should be mentioned that the visualization of meridians postulated by Bong-Han Kim and other researchers after the injection of radioactive substances is still under debate internationally and has found only regional acceptance.9 There are also some new publications concerning bioelectromagnetic research for obtaining new insights into meridians.10 Briey summarized, from the current scientic point of view, nobody has been able to reproduce, demonstrate, and/or visualize meridians.

FIG. 1. PubMed literature search for the terms related to meridian(s). Note that at the moment (March 5, 2013) there are only few articles mentioning meridian(s) in connection with visualization or scientic proof. The numbers in brackets represent the search results for meridians + the respective term; the numbers above those for meridian + each term.

Stronach Research Unit for Complementary and Integrative Laser Medicine, Research Unit of Biomedical Engineering in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, and TCM Research Center Graz, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.

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216 Acknowledgments The scientic investigations at the Medical University of Graz were supported by the Stronach Medical Group, the German Academy of Acupuncture (DAA), and the Department of Science of the City of Graz. These investigations are part of the Evidence-based High-Tech Acupuncture and Integrative Laser Medicine for Prevention and Early Intervention of Chronic Diseases project, supported by the Austrian Federal Ministries of Science and Research and of Health and the Eurasia-Pacic Uninet. The author would like to thank Ms. Ingrid Gaischek, MSc, of the Stronach Research Unit for Complementary and Integrative Laser Medicine, Medical University of Graz, for her valuable help in manuscript and gure preparation. Disclosure Statement No competing nancial interests exist. References
1. Stronach F. A new role model for healthcare delivery. Healthc Pap 2000;1(3):6873. 2. Longhurst JC. Dening meridians: a modern basis of understanding. J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2010;3(2):6774. 3. Lo Y. What are meridians? Can we see them? Acupuncture Today 2004;5(03). Online article at: www.massagetoday .org/mpacms/at/article.php?id = 28407. Accessed 4. Wang GJ, Ayati MH, Zhang WB. Meridian studies in China: a systematic review. J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2010;3(1): 19. 5. Litscher G. Infrared thermography fails to visualize stimulation-induced meridian-like structures. Biomed Eng Online 6.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

2005;4:38. Online article at: www.biomedical-engineeringonline.com/content/4/1/38. Accessed Chen R, Lv Z. Infrared thermography fails to visualize stimulation-induced meridian-like structures: comment by Rixin Chen and Zhimai Lv and reply from Gerhard Litscher. Biomed Eng Online 2011;10:80; author reply 80. Online article at: http:/ /www.biomedical-engineering-online.com/ content/10/1/80 Accessed Litscher G, Ammer K. Visualization of equipment-dependent measurement errors, but not of meridian-like channels in complementary medicinea thermographic human cadaver study. Thermology International 2007;17(1):325. Litscher G. Are female and male meridians different? Some spontaneous thoughts. Med Acupunct 2012;24(4):12. Stefanov M, Kim JD. Primo vascular system as a new morphofunctional integrated system. J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2012;5(5):193200. Litscher G, Wang L, Gao XY, Gaischek I. Electrodermal mapping: a new technology. World J Methodol 2012;1(1):226.

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Address correspondence to: Gerhard Litscher, MSc, PhD, MDsc Stronach Research Unit for Complementary and Integrative Laser Medicine Research Unit of Biomedical Engineering in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine and TCM Research Center Graz Medical University Graz Auenbruggerplatz 29 Graz A-8036 Austria E-mail: gerhard.litscher@medunigraz.at