Contralateral acupuncture for migraine without aura: a randomized trial protocol with multimodal MRI

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Clinical Neurology

Background:

• Migraine is a leading cause of disability worldwide.
• Contralateral acupuncture (CAT) is a potential treatment for migraine without aura (MWoA).
• Neural mechanisms of CAT for MWoA remain unclear, necessitating multimodal neuroimaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural mechanisms of CAT in treating MWoA using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
• To evaluate the efficacy of CAT compared to ipsilateral acupuncture (IAT) and sham CAT in MWoA patients.
• To explore the impact of CAT on brain neural activity and functional connectivity, particularly involving the periaqueductal gray (PAG).

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 96 female MWoA patients and 30 healthy controls (HCs).
• Participants are randomized into CAT, IAT, or sham CAT groups, receiving 8 weeks of treatment.
• Multimodal MRI scans are performed at baseline and post-treatment to assess brain changes; primary outcome is migraine intensity.

Main Results:

• Migraine intensity will be assessed at baseline, end of treatment, and follow-up.
• Changes in brain neural activity and functional connectivity will be analyzed using multimodal MRI.
• Adverse events will be systematically recorded throughout the study.

Conclusions:

• This study hypothesizes that CAT restores brain neural activity and functional connectivity in MWoA patients.
• Findings are expected to provide scientific evidence for CAT's efficacy in treating MWoA.
• The research aims to elucidate the neurobiological underpinnings of CAT for migraine management.