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A systematic review and meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Medicine examined whether acupuncture can improve heart function in patients who have undergone percutaneous coronary intervention — a procedure commonly used to open blocked coronary arteries. Researchers searched nine major electronic databases from their inception through May 2026, ultimately including eight randomised controlled trials involving 759 patients divided roughly equally between acupuncture and control groups (conventional treatment or sham acupuncture).
The pooled results were broadly encouraging. Patients receiving acupuncture showed a meaningful increase in left ventricular ejection fraction — a key measure of how effectively the heart pumps blood — of approximately 4.26 percentage points compared with controls. Functional capacity, measured by the six-minute walk test, improved by nearly 44 metres on average. Acupuncture was also associated with reductions in a cardiac injury biomarker, smaller left ventricular chamber dimensions suggesting less adverse cardiac remodelling, and a 60% lower relative risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.
The authors note important limitations: only eight trials were available, sample sizes were modest, and the methodological quality of the included studies was variable. The evidence, appraised using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations framework, therefore remains preliminary. The reviewers call for larger, more rigorously designed randomised controlled trials before firm clinical recommendations can be made.
Conclusion: Acupuncture shows promising potential as an adjunct therapy for improving cardiac function following percutaneous coronary intervention, but higher-quality evidence from large-scale randomised controlled trials is needed to confirm these findings.
Source: Chen Z, Nie J, Tian J. Frontiers in medicine (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42780566) · doi:10.3389/fmed.2026.1926216
