An Unearthed Medical Slip Reveals a Rare Vascular Pathway or Meridian Described 2000 Years Ago.

Recently unearthed Tinhui Medical Slips, dating back to 2nd century BCE, demonstrates the 12th meridian in Chinese medicine as an anatomy-based discovery. This is equivalent to the persistent median artery, which was later incorporated into Neijing meridian theory and set the foundation for traditional acupuncture today.

Persistent median artery may explain the transition from 11 to 12 meridians in ancient Chinese medicine.

Persistent median artery (PMA) has been recognized as a major arterial variant of the forearm in about 30% adults and it also shows a continuously increasing trend in the last two hundred years. This may explain well the mystery why a "new meridian" was added to the older 11-meridian system over two thousand years ago in Chinese medicine. The 12th meridian, Hand Jue Yin Meridian, happens to run along the same pathway as PMA.