In the 1960s, Professor Kim Bong Han and a team of researchers in Korea attempted to document the existence of meridians in the human body using microdissection techniques. They found evidence that there exists an independent series of fine ductlike tubes corresponding to the paths of traditional acupuncture meridians. Fluids in this system sometimes travel in the same direction as the blood and lymph, but at other times flow in the opposite direction. They realized that these ducts are different from the vascular and lymphatic systems that Western science had previously identified, and that the meridians themselves might exist within them.

  French researcher Pierre de Vernejoul further established the existence of the meridian system. He injected radioactive isotopes into the acupoints of humans and tracked their movement with a special gamma imaging camera. The isotopes traveled thirty centimeters along acupuncture meridians within four to six minutes. Vernejoul then challenged his work by injecting isotopes into blood vessels at random areas of the body rather than into acupoints. The isotopes did not travel in the same manner at all, further indicating that the meridians do indeed comprise a system of separate pathways within the body.

Acupuncture: A Substitute for Surgical Anesthesia

 

  In 1979, David Eisenberg, M.D., was invited to the Beijing Neurosurgical Institute in China to witness and assist in a major surgical operation carried out using only acupuncture for the relief of pain. The patient was a fifty-eight-year-old university professor with a brain tumor located near his pituitary gland. The neurosurgeon, Dr. Wang Zhong-cheng, recommended acu-puncture analgesia because it had significantly fewer side effects than other anesthetic treatments. Throughout a four-hour operation that included the removal of a portion of the skull to reach the tumor, the patient remained fully conscious, observant, and relaxed. He received only a mild preoperative anodyne, and the acupuncture consisted of the insertion of five needles attached to a low-voltage battery. He felt no pain, and his pulse and blood pressure remained stable. When the surgery was completed, the patient stood up, thanked the surgeon, and walked out of the operating room without help.

  More than 90 percent of all head and neck surgeries performed at the Beijing Neuro-surgical Institute are performed using acupuncture analgesia. Dr. Eisenberg has also reported on its use for thyroid operations, where treatment consisted of inserting two needles in the hand. It has also been used successfully for open-chest surgery and tonsillectomies. It does not however, always provide adequate pain relief for abdominal, gynecological, or heart and lung surgery, according to the Beijing Institute. And because not all patients respond well to acupuncture analgesia, traditional anesthesia is kept available during all surgical operations.

The Electrical Properties of Acupuncture

 

  Modern research suggests that there is a specific relationship between acupuncture points, meridians, and the electrical currents of the body. Since the 1950s, numerous studies have been conducted using electrical devices to measure the galvanic skin response (GSR) of both meridians and specific acupoints. These studies not only confirmed the existence of the meridian systems, but also indicate that the acupoints themselves have a higher level of electrical conductance than non-acupuncture sites.

  In the 1970s, under a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Robert O. Becker, M.D., and Maria Reichmanis, a biophysicist, were able to prove that electrical currents did indeed flow along the ancient Chinese meridians and that 25 percent of the acupuncture points did exist along those scientifically measurable lines. They reasoned that these points acted as amplifiers to boost the minute electrical signals as they travelled along the body, and that the insertion of a needle could interfere with that flow and thus block the stimulus of pain. 

 

Acupuncture in a Western World

 

  Chinese immigrants brought acupuncture to America in the mid-1800s, but it was largely ignored until 1972, when James Reston, a respected New York Times columnist, underwent an emergency appendectomy while in China. Reston reported on the amazing postsurgical pain relief he enjoyed by means of a few well-placed acupuncture needles. This report attracted the attention of the American medical community, and many physicians traveled to China to observe for themselves the use of acupuncture for pain relief. They discovered that acupuncture is part of a complex, integrated curing system that goes far beyond pain relief and can treat a variety of conditions, including diseases of the eyes, nerves, muscles, heart, and the organs of digestion and reproduction. By the end of the 1970s, acupuncture schools and practitioners could be found throughout America, supported by dozens of professional associations and publications.