Long Term Effect of Acupuncture on
Breast Cancer
Short term effects of acupuncture treatment for hot flashes
(HF) in breast cancer patients have been demonstrated in several studies,
including a randomized controlled trial, by the present authors. Results for
the first 59 Tamoxifen medicated women receiving a 10 week course of acupuncture
treatment have already been published. A significant reduction in the number of
hot flashes was demonstrated both day and night, for up to three months
following treatment in the women receiving traditional Chinese acupuncture. The
control group receiving sham (minimal acupuncture) demonstrated a HF reduction
only at night during treatment, however the effect did not remain significant
during the following 12 weeks. The study was continued in order to
investigate longer term effects of acupuncture treatment, and patient's quality
of life two years after treatment. Eighty patients, who had 2 years
previously been randomized to either a course of 15 acupuncture treatments or
sham acupuncture (control) over a period of 10 weeks, were asked to fill
out a Kupperman index (KI) indicating health related quality of life. Sixty one
women returned KI questionnaires. A mixed models procedure with diagonal
covariance matrix was used for statistical analyses. Baseline values between
the sham-group and acupuncture group were not significantly different. However
scores at the end of treatment and after 3 months showed a statistically
significant difference between the groups, this difference lost its
significance when scores were analyzed after 2 years. Acupuncture seems to
have a positive effect on health related quality of life for up three months
post-treatment, this study suggests that these effects may be longer-term,
however there was no significant effect 2 years later.
Source: Hervik J,
Mjåland O.
Long term
follow up of breast cancer patients treated with acupuncture for hot flashes. Springerplus.
2014 Mar 14;3:141.
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