title: A literature review of de qi in clinical studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  De qi is a sensation experienced by a patient or an acupuncturist during acupuncture treatment. Although de qi is considered to be important in acupuncture treatment, there are not many studies about de qi and its character. The purpose of this study is to review de qi questionnaires and evaluate the relationship between de qi and acupuncture points, stimulation and treatment effects.
  
  
  METHODS
  A search was conducted using three English-language databases (PubMed, Cochrane and ScienceDirect) and seven Korean databases with the keywords 'de qi' and 'needle sensation'. The included studies were then categorised as following: (1) de qi measurement tools, (2) the relationship between de qi and acupuncture points, (3) the relationship between de qi and stimulation, (4) the relationship between de qi and treatment effects and (5) attitudes and opinions toward de qi.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several questionnaires have been developed to evaluate de qi, and the most frequent sensation in those questionnaires was 'heavy' and 'numb'. Although a few studies showed specificity to acupuncture points, information is still lacking to be able to draw a clear conclusion about the relationship between de qi and acupuncture points. Also, greater de qi was elicited in real acupuncture than placebo acupuncture in many studies. The relationship between de qi and treatment effects was controversial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that real acupuncture induced greater de qi than sham acupuncture, and the relationship between de qi, acupuncture points and treatment effects was controversial. However, the current literature evaluating de qi is not sufficient to derive clear conclusions. Further studies with more objective indices and rigorous methodologies are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Acupuncture, Moxibustion & Meridian Research Group, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Eun
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Yeon-Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hee-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Ae-Ran
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: So-Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Sun-Mi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D015669:Acupuncture Points; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles; D010146:Pain; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D019413:Qi; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012677:Sensation
keywords: Acupuncture