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• Clinical Article •
Voxel-based fMRI analysis of the effect of acupuncture on cerebral hemispheric lateralization in patients with ischemic stroke
XU Mengfang  ZOU Yihuai  XU Tianjiao  CUI Fangyuan  REN Yi  HAN Xiao 

Cite this article as: XU M F, ZOU Y H, XU T J, et al. Voxel-based fMRI analysis of the effect of acupuncture on cerebral hemispheric lateralization in patients with ischemic stroke[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(9): 102-109. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.09.014.


[Abstract] Objective To analyze functional lateralization of the cerebral hemispheres and the mechanism of acupuncture in ischemic stroke (IS) patients based on voxel-level functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Materials and Methods The study included 60 inpatients with ischemic stroke (IS) at Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and 30 healthy controls. IS patients were divided into a left ischemic stroke (LIS) group and a right ischemic stroke (RIS) group based on the location of the lesion. The patient groups received acupuncture intervention with the hand-foot 12 needles acupuncture, while the control group received no intervention. At the whole-brain voxel level, brain regions showing significant differences in degree centrality (DC) were compared between the LIS group, RIS group, and control group. Regions with significant DC differences were then used as seed points for functional connectivity (FC) analysis.Results A total of 35 patients with IS, including 20 cases in the LIS group and 15 cases in the RIS group, as well as 29 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled in this study. The degree centrality (DC) values of Cerebelum_6_R in the LIS group (t = -4.79, P < 0.001) and Calcarine_R in the RIS group (t = -4.19, P < 0.001) were significantly lower than those of the HC group. Following acupuncture intervention, the FC between the Calcarine_R and the Occipital_Sup_R in the RIS group was significantly higher than that before intervention (t = 5.37, P < 0.001). Regarding pre-intervention FC, the LIS group exhibited significantly lower FC between the Cerebelum_6_R and the Precentral_L (t = -7.84), Calcarine_L (t = -6.32), Cingulum_Mid_L (t = -5.17), and Precentral_R (t = -5.68) compared with the HC group. Similarly, in the RIS group, the FC between the Cerebelum_6_R and the Precentral_R (t = -5.26), Cuneus_L (t = -5.24), Lingual_L (t = -4.91), and Calcarine_R (t = -4.16) was significantly lower than that of the HC group; furthermore, the FC between the Calcarine_R and the Occipital_Mid_R (t = -6.41), Occipital_Mid_L (t = -5.10), Cerebelum_Crus1_L (t = -4.99), and Temporal_Inf_R (t = -4.84) was also significantly lower than that of the HC group (all P < 0.001). After acupuncture intervention, the FC between the Cerebelum_6_R and the Postcentral_L (t = -6.08), Precentral_R (t = -5.38), Postcentral_R (t = -4.80), Precentral_L (t = -3.85), and Postcentral_L (t = -5.55) in the LIS group remained significantly lower than that of the HC group (all P < 0.001), whereas no statistically significant difference was observed between the RIS group and the HC group.Conclusions Ischemic stroke patients with different lesion sides exhibit statistically significant differences in DC and FC. Furthermore, acupuncture modulation may exert hemisphere-specific functional lateralization effects.
[Keywords] ischemic stroke；pin-prick test；hand-foot 12 needles acupuncture；hemispheric lateralization；functional connectivity；functional magnetic resonance imaging；magnetic resonance imaging

XU Mengfang1   ZOU Yihuai1   XU Tianjiao2   CUI Fangyuan1   REN Yi1   HAN Xiao1*  

1 Department of Neurology, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700, China

2 Department of Radiology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China

Corresponding author: HAN X, E-mail: hanxiao@bucm.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2026-04-02
Accepted  2026-08-05
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.09.014
Cite this article as: XU M F, ZOU Y H, XU T J, et al. Voxel-based fMRI analysis of the effect of acupuncture on cerebral hemispheric lateralization in patients with ischemic stroke[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(9): 102-109. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.09.014.

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