Acupuncture is an ancient form of therapy, which has long been part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); however, its use has spread globally, to the point where it is currently practiced worldwide. Although metal needles continue to be used most commonly, through multidisciplinary research, novel technologies, including nanotechnology, have allowed acupuncture to evolve to the point of achieving greater efficiency and more sophisticated functions in clinical practice. We summarized recent advancements in the literature using nano-enabled strategies to create novel needles that enhance and expand their therapeutic effects and found that nanotechnology may help provide new evidence to verify acupuncture theory, improve the features of acupuncture needles and their clinical effects by combining with drug delivery, and even enable new therapeutic methods when combined with acupuncture needles. The use of nano-technology with acupuncture delivery looks very promising for potential clinical applications. We also envisage that with nanotechnology, innovations in acupuncture needles could generate a multi-functional toolbox for use in both diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. Such new types of acupuncture needles could be used at acupoints and data collected to guide the planning of clinical trials may be more consistent with acupuncture theory and traditional clinical applications of this therapeutic modality.

中文翻译：

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使用纳米方法推进针灸治疗疾病管理

针灸是一种古老的疗法，长期以来一直是中医 (TCM) 的一部分；然而，它的使用已在全球范围内传播，目前已在全世界范围内使用。尽管金属针仍然是最常用的，但通过多学科研究，包括纳米技术在内的新技术使针灸发展到在临床实践中实现更高效率和更复杂功能的程度。我们总结了文献中最近的进展，利用纳米策略来制造新型针，以增强和扩大其治疗效果，并发现纳米技术可能有助于为验证针灸理论、改善针灸针的特性及其临床效果提供新的证据。药物输送，甚至与针灸针结合使用可以实现新的治疗方法。纳米技术与针灸疗法的结合看起来在临床应用方面非常有前景。我们还设想，通过纳米技术，针灸针的创新可以产生一个用于诊断和治疗医学的多功能工具箱。这种新型针灸针可以用于穴位，收集的数据可以指导临床试验的规划，可能更符合针灸理论和这种治疗方式的传统临床应用。