Acupuncture for Cancer Care

Scientific Studies

Support the Use of Acupuncture for Oncology Patients

Changzhen Gong, Ph.D.

 In China, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have used acupuncture to address the symptoms of cancer for several thousand years, which is documented in Chinese medical texts. As knowledge of acupuncture began to diffuse beyond Asia in the 20^th Century, scientific studies soon acknowledged the ability of acupuncture to control pain and nausea. Today, the application of acupuncture therapy to cancer patients is not confined to China, but is being used and studied around the world. Patients who seek alternatives to drug therapy for cancer-related symptoms and treatment-related side effects find that acupuncture has become one of the most popular, widely-accepted complementary treatments in the field of oncology.

 A considerable body of evidence shows that acupuncture has a regulating effect on neurological, immune-system, and endocrine processes; and clinical observations confirm that acupuncture has many beneficial effects during cancer therapy. Scientific proof is mounting that acupuncture is effective treatment for cancer-related symptoms including pain, nausea and vomiting, xerostomia (dry mouth), and hot flashes, as well as quality-of-life issues such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. There is also proof that acupuncture has powerful results when used in the management of side effects brought on by medical interventions of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Compared with many other interventions, acupuncture is safe, non-invasive, and has minimal side-effects.  

Moreover, the use of acupuncture to treat patients with cancer and the symptoms that arise from conventional cancer treatment is currently one of the most robust fields of scientific acupuncture research. The following paragraphs cite four recent cancer-related scientific studies which validate acupuncture therapy and point the way for further investigation into this field.

 An Italian study conducted by the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology at San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Milan evaluated the efficacy of acupressure for insomnia (acupressure stimulates acupuncture points manually, rather than with needles). Of twenty-five study patients with sleep disorders, fourteen of them had cancer. They were treated with acupressure for at least two consecutive weeks. A 60% overall improvement in the quality of sleep was noted for the 25 patients, and an even higher improvement rate of 79% was noted for the cancer patients. This study confirms previous clinical data showing the efficacy of acupressure in the treatment of sleep disorders, particularly in cancer-related insomnia.

 A study conducted by Molassiotis, et.al, and reported in the December, 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, was designed to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in patients with breast cancer. The randomized controlled trial compared 227 patients who received acupuncture and usual care, with 75 patients who received usual care alone (“usual care” consisted of giving patients a booklet with information about managing fatigue). Acupuncturists needled three pairs of acupoints once a week for six weeks. After six weeks, with 246 completing participants, general fatigue levels were assessed using the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). Other measurements included the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General quality-of-life scale, and expectation of acupuncture effect. Results showed significant improvement in general fatigue levels in the acupuncture group. The intervention also improved all other fatigue aspects measured by MFI, including physical fatigue and mental fatigue, anxiety and depression, and quality of life. This study concluded that acupuncture is an effective intervention for managing the symptom of CRF and improving patients' quality of life.

Xerostomia (dry mouth) after head/neck radiation is a common problem among cancer patients. Quality of life (QOL) is impaired, and available treatments are of little benefit. A small pilot study comparing the effects of acupuncture and sham acupuncture on xerostomia symptoms was conducted at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center by Meng, et.al., and reported in the July, 2012 issue of the European Journal of Cancer. Twenty-three patients were randomized to real acupuncture (N=11) or to sham acupuncture (N=12), with the objective of determining whether acupuncture could prevent xerostomia among head/neck patients undergoing radiotherapy. Patients were treated three times per week during the course of radiotherapy. They were assessed by both subjective and objective measures during radiotherapy, and were followed for one month after radiotherapy. In this small study, true acupuncture given concurrently with radiotherapy significantly reduced xerostomia symptoms and improved QOL when compared with sham acupuncture. Researchers concluded that large-scale, multi-centre, randomized and placebo-controlled trials were justified, based on the results of their pilot study.

 A study called “Acupuncture as palliative therapy for physical symptoms and quality of life for advanced cancer patients” was published in the June, 2010 issue of Integrative Cancer Therapies. Researchers assessed the effects of administering acupuncture to patients with advanced ovarian or breast cancer in regard to patients’ subjective experience of their symptoms and quality of life (QOL). In this single-armed prospective clinical trial, ambulatory patients with advanced cancer received 12 acupuncture sessions over 8 weeks, with follow-up treatments at weeks 9 and 12. Symptom severity was measured before and after each acupuncture session, and a composite QOL assessment tool was completed at five time points. The 32 assessed patients self-reported improvement in anxiety, fatigue, pain, and depression immediately after treatment, and significant improvement over time for patients with anxiety and depression. QOL measures of pain severity and interference, physical and psychological distress, life satisfaction, and mood states showed improved scores during treatment, with sustained benefit at 12 weeks. This pilot study demonstrated that an 8-week outpatient acupuncture course was feasible for advanced cancer patients and could produce a measurable benefit. Researchers also concluded that acupuncture is underutilized as an adjunct cancer therapy.

This article will appear in the Winter 2014 issue of Chinese Medicine in Practice, the Official Newsletter of the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.