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Status unknownNCT04046588Updated Mar 6, 2020

The Difference in Heat Transport Characteristics of the Heart and Lung Meridians

An interventional study of Infrared thermography and Moxibustion in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, sponsored by Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. Status unknown at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 35 Years to 75 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-03-06.

Sponsored by Zhejiang Chinese Medical University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Mar 2020), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
120
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
35 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Although some important progresses were made in the field of the meridian research, no breakthroughs have been achieved. Besides,there are some problems in meridian researches. Particularly, previous research of meridian phenomenon involved lots of subjective elements and outcomes.Researches that use modern scientific techniques to investigate the biological characteristics of meridian phenomenon are urgently needed. Therefore, this study is designed to assess the heat transport characteristics of meridian phenomenon for the Heart and Lung meridians by using infrared thermography. Thus, the biological characteristics of meridian phenomenon could be presented objectively in a scientific methodology.

Read the detailed description

This study will include 40 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 80 healthy adults. Infrared thermal imaging(ITI) examination will be adopted to assess the heat transport characteristics of the Heart and Lung meridians and investigate the specificity for the meridian-visceral correlation and site-to-site correlation between two specific meridians.

02

Conditions studied

  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Keywords

  • meridians
  • acupuncture
  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • meridian phenomenon
  • infrared thermography
03

In context

Lung Diseases

3,303 studies on the registry are indexed under Lung Diseases; 355 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 120 is above the median of 72 across 2,118 interventional studies indexed under Lung Diseases.

Browse Lung Diseases studies →

Lead sponsor

Zhejiang Chinese Medical University is the lead sponsor of 22 studies on the registry; 5 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
35 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Inclusion criteria for COPD

  1. Patients should meet the above diagnostic criteria, and the severity of COPD is in the stage of GOLD 2 or 3 based on pulmonary function testing;
  2. COPD patients in the stable phase, who present with mild symptoms of cough, expectoration and short breath;
  3. 35 ≤ age ≤75 years, male or female;
  4. Patients have clear consciousness and could communicate with others normally;
  5. Patients could understand the full study protocol and have high adherence.Written informed consent is signed by themselves or their lineal kin.

Inclusion criteria for health volunteers

  1. Healthy volunteers who could provide a recent medical examination report to confirm they have not any cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, urinary, hematological, endocrine and neurological disease;
  2. 35 ≤ age ≤75 years, male or female;
  3. Participants have clear consciousness and could communicate with others normally;
  4. Participants could understand the full study protocol and have high adherence .Written informed consent is signed by themselves or their lineal kin.

Exclusion Criteria:

Exclusion criteria for COPD

  1. Patients who fail to meet the diagnostic criteria for COPD, or COPD patients in the phase of acute exacerbation;
  2. Patients have the following complications, which includes pneumonia, bronchial asthma, bronchiectasis, active tuberculosis, pneumothorax, chest trauma, tumors of the lung or thorax, and other confirmed respiratory diseases;
  3. Patients have concomitant conditions of heart diseases, such as chronic stable angina pectoris (CSAP);
  4. Patients have serious concomitant conditions and fail to treat them effectively, such as diseases of the digestive, urinary, respiratory, hematological, and nervous system;
  5. Patients have mental illness, severe depression, alcohol dependence or history of drug abuse;
  6. Pregnant or lactating patients; Patients are participating in other trials.

Exclusion criteria of health volunteers

  1. Participants have mental illness, severe depression, alcohol dependence or history of drug abuse;
  2. Pregnant or lactating participants ;
  3. Participants are participating in other trials.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Diagnostic
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
120 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Other
    COPD group

    This group will include 40 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

    Diagnostic Test: Infrared thermography

  • Other
    Healthy control group

    This group will include 40 healthy volunteers.

    Diagnostic Test: Infrared thermography

  • Experimental
    Healthy intervention group

    This study will include 40 healthy adults. Two sessions of moxibustion intervention will be performed in the Heart meridian and Lung meridian successively.

    Procedure: Moxibustion

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testInfrared thermography

    A thermal imager (NEC InfRec R450, Avio Infrared Technologies Co., Ltd., Tokyo) will be used to record thermal images. The temperature of corresponding sites on the Heart and Lung meridians will be analyzed.

  • ProcedureMoxibustion

    Two sessions of moxibustion intervention will be performed in the Heart meridian and Lung meridian, respectivey. During moxibustion, the temperature change of relevant sites in the Heart and Lung meridians will be measured by infrared thermal imaging. 1. Intervention in the Heart meridian: moxibustion will be performed above the acupoint HT3 of the Heart meridian 2. Intervention in the Lung meridian: moxibustion will be performed above the acupoint LU5 of the Lung meridian.

    Also known as: Infrared thermography

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Temperature change of relevant sites

    Infrared thermal imaging is used to record baseline temperature and the temperature change of corresponding sites along the Heart and Lung meridians.

    Time frame: Baseline, 15 minutes during moxibustion, 5 minutes after stopping moxibustion

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • the Third affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical university
    Hanzhou, Zhejiang 310000, China
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Cai W, Chen AW, Ding L, Shen WD. Thermal Effects of Acupuncture by the Infrared Thermography Test in Patients With Tinnitus. J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2019 Aug;12(4):131-135. doi: 10.1016/j.jams.2019.05.002. Epub 2019 Jun 27. PubMed 31254681 ↗
  • Alvarez-Prats D, Carvajal-Fernandez O, Valera Garrido F, Pecos-Martin D, Garcia-Godino A, Santafe MM, Medina-Mirapeix F. Acupuncture Points and Perforating Cutaneous Vessels Identified Using Infrared Thermography: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2019 Mar 21;2019:7126439. doi: 10.1155/2019/7126439. eCollection 2019. PubMed 31015854 ↗
  • Lin M, Wei H, Zhao L, Zhao J, Cheng K, Deng H, Shen X, Zhang H. [Review on infrared temperature characteristics of acupoints in recent 10 years]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2017 Apr 12;37(4):453-456. doi: 10.13703/j.0255-2930.2017.04.028. Chinese. PubMed 29231602 ↗
  • Fu Y, Ni JX, Marmori F, Zhu Q, Tan C, Zhao JP. Infrared thermal imaging-based research on the intermediate structures of the lung and large intestine exterior-interior relationship in asthma patients. Chin J Integr Med. 2016 Nov;22(11):855-860. doi: 10.1007/s11655-016-2102-4. Epub 2016 Jun 9. PubMed 27286712 ↗
  • de Souza RC, Pansini M, Arruda G, Valente C, Brioschi ML. Laser acupuncture causes thermal changes in small intestine meridian pathway. Lasers Med Sci. 2016 Nov;31(8):1645-1649. doi: 10.1007/s10103-016-2032-6. Epub 2016 Aug 5. PubMed 27495129 ↗
  • Yang H, Park H, Lim C, Park S, Lee K. Infrared thermal imaging in patients with medial collateral ligament injury of the knee - a retrospective study. J Pharmacopuncture. 2014 Dec;17(4):50-4. doi: 10.3831/KPI.2014.17.036. PubMed 25780719 ↗
  • Zheng J, Zhao Y, Wang Y, Hu S, Lu P, Shen X. The infrared radiation temperature characteristic of acupoints of mammary gland hyperplasia patients. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:567987. doi: 10.1155/2013/567987. Epub 2013 Nov 14. PubMed 24327822 ↗
  • Kang J, Lee N, Ahn Y, Lee H. Study on improving blood flow with Korean red ginseng substances using digital infrared thermal imaging and Doppler sonography: randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial with parallel design. J Tradit Chin Med. 2013 Feb;33(1):39-45. doi: 10.1016/s0254-6272(13)60098-9. PubMed 23596810 ↗
  • Li X, Jiang Y, Hu H, Zhang Y, Lou J, He X, Sun J, Wu Y, Fang J, Shao X, Fang J. The difference in heat transport characteristics of the heart and lung meridians: A comparative study of COPD patients and healthy subjects. Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Feb 5;100(5):e23804. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000023804. PubMed 33592838 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 6, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04046588
Lead sponsor
Zhejiang Chinese Medical University
Collaborators
The Third Affiliated hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University
Responsible party
Jianqiao Fang (President, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 6, 2019
Start date
Oct 1, 2019
Primary completion
Dec 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2021 (estimated)
Last update
Mar 6, 2020

Study contacts

Yongliang Jiang, Ph.D
Contact
jyl2182@126.com
86-13858173136
Hantong Hu
Contact
413351308@qq.com
86-18667103032
Jianqiao Fang, Ph.D
principal investigator · Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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