摘要
Since the 1970s, acupuncture has become popular in the West for many conditions, and particularly for treating chronic illnesses. With the increasing use of acupuncture and other complementary and alternative medicine （CAM） interventions, the demand for scientific evaluation of these modalities has grown. In the United States, this expansion is exemplified by the 1991 establishment of the National Institutes of Health （NIH） Office of Alternative Medicine, authorized by the US Congress, and by a 1994 FDA workshop that led to a reclassification of the acupuncture needle as a medical device and the 1997 NIH consensus conference on acupuncture. Since the latter 1990s, clinical trials on acupuncture have dramatically increased, along with increased research funding in the US and other Western countries. For example, in the US,
1 BACKGROUND Since the 1970s,acupuncture has become popular in the West for many conditions,and particularly for treating chronic illnesses.With the increasing use of acupuncture and other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) interventions,the demand for scientific evaluation of these modalities has grown.In the United States, this expansion is exemplified by the 1991 establishment of the National Institutes of Health (N IH) Office of Al- ternative Medicine,authorized by the US Congress,and by a 1994 FDA workshop that led to a
