Efficacy of acupuncture in treatment of cancer pain: a systematic review

Peng, Hao; Peng, Haidong; Xu, Ling; Lao, Lixing

doi:10.3736/jcim20100601

Cited by 38 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…One patient failed to complete the second page of one questionnaire. Therefore, 41 patients completed all study procedures and the prescribed acupuncture treatment regimen (average number of treatments = 8; range, 2-10) over an average of 5 weeks (range, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Of these, 71% (29/41) received auricular ASP needles on their first visit.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For many, traditional pain management approaches such as opioid treatment are not an optimal choice, 2 and studies have shown acupuncture has fewer side effects than pharmacological treatments. [3][4][5][6][7][8] Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses [9][10][11][12] evaluating acupuncture for pain management in cancer patients have been published. Three of these studies [9][10][11] concluded that the evidence was insufficient to support the use of acupuncture because of methodological limitations in the randomized controlled trials that were included.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8] Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses [9][10][11][12] evaluating acupuncture for pain management in cancer patients have been published. Three of these studies [9][10][11] concluded that the evidence was insufficient to support the use of acupuncture because of methodological limitations in the randomized controlled trials that were included. Interestingly, a recent meta-analysis by Choi et al 12 reported that, although acupuncture was not more effective than drug therapy, acupuncture plus drug therapy was significantly more effective than drug therapy alone (n = 437; risk ratio, 1.36; 95% confidence interval = 1.13-1.64; P = .003), implying there is a synergistic effect of acupuncture when added to conventional care.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acupuncture for Treatment of Uncontrolled Pain in Cancer Patients

et al. 2013

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Purpose. Pain control is an ongoing challenge in the oncology setting. Prior to implementing a large randomized trial at our institution, we investigated the feasibility, safety, and initial efficacy of acupuncture for uncontrolled pain among cancer patients. Hypotheses. Our hypotheses were that the acupuncture treatments provided would be (a) feasible, (b) safe, and (c) a beneficial adjunct to pain management. Study Design. This was a single arm, nonrandomized pragmatic pilot study. Methods. Participants experiencing pain ≥4 on a 0 to 10 numeric rating scale received a maximum of 10 treatments on an individualized basis. Recruitment, attrition, compliance, and adverse events (AEs) were assessed. Pain (Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form), quality of life (MD Anderson Symptom Inventory [MDASI]), and patient satisfaction were assessed at baseline and at the end of treatment. Results. Of 115 patients screened, 52 (45%) were eligible and agreed to participate. Eleven (21%) were lost to follow-up, leaving 41 who completed all study procedures. No AEs were reported. Mean pain severity was 6.0 ± 1.3 at baseline and 3.8 ± 2.0 at follow-up (P < .0001). Pain interference was 6.2 ± 2.3 at baseline and 4.3 ± 2.8 at follow-up (P < .0011). On the MDASI, the mean symptom severity was 4.6 ± 1.8 at baseline and 3.2 ± 1.9 at follow-up (P < .0001), and mean symptom interference was 5.8 ± 2.4 at baseline and 4.1 ± 2.9 at follow-up (P < .002). Prescribed pain medications decreased across the course of the study. Patient satisfaction was high: 87% reported that their expectations were met "very well" or "extremely well"; 90% said they were likely to participate again; 95% said they were likely to recommend acupuncture to others; and 90% reported they found the service to be "useful" or "very useful." Conclusions. Acupuncture was feasible, safe, and a helpful treatment adjunct for cancer patients experiencing uncontrolled pain in this study. Randomized placebo-controlled trials are needed to confirm these results.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acupuncture for Treatment of Uncontrolled Pain in Cancer Patients

et al. 2013

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“…The remaining three SRs focused only on one particular form of acupuncture or related therapy, including TENS 13 , moxibustion 31 and acupoint injection 32 . Sixteen SRs summarised the evidence on a single outcome, including CRP 8,13,21,22,26,27 , fatigue 9,24,31 , hot flashes 17,18 , chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) 14,20 , hiccups 29 and irradiation-induced xerostomia 19 . The remaining seven SRs 6,7,12,20,28,30,32 reported evidence on a wide range of outcomes in the palliative care of patients with cancer.…”

Section: Sr Search and Screening Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of acupuncture and related therapies for palliative care of cancer: Overview of systematic reviews

Chung

Hui

et al. 2016

European Journal of Integrative Medicine

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“…[28][29][30][31][32][33] Previous systematic reviews evaluating acupuncture for cancer-related pain have concluded that acupuncture may have a positive impact on patients with pain but at this time there is insufficient evidence to support this hypothesis. [22][23][24][25][26][27] The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the current published studies reporting the effect of acupuncture on AI-induced arthralgia.…”

Section: Research-article2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

Acupuncture for Aromatase Inhibitor–Induced Arthralgia

et al. 2015

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Background. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are commonly used as adjunctive hormone treatment for early breast cancer patients. The major side effect of AIs is arthralgia, which affects adherence. Previous reviews suggested that acupuncture is effective in the management of cancer-related pain. The aim of this review is to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on arthralgia caused by AIs. Methods. This article examined randomized controlled trials (RCTs) measuring the effects of acupuncture on joint symptoms caused by AIs within 8 medical databases till May 2014. The quality of the articles was evaluated according to the Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) tool. Results. Four RCTs were identified in medical journals. Two studies were conducted with manual acupuncture and 2 studies were electroacupuncture. The range of sample size was between 32 and 67. One RCT showed significant improvement in the acupuncture group compared with the sham control group and another RCT showed a statistical difference between the electroacupuncture and waitlist group. The other 2 studies showed no statistical differences between control and acupuncture groups. Two studies conducted blood analysis to elucidate the mechanism of efficacy of acupuncture for arthralgia. The 2 positive studies had a lower ROB and 2 studies had a high ROB. Conclusions. The systematic review suggests that acupuncture has potential benefits to improve arthralgia caused by AIs. However, further trials of adequate sample size, appropriate control group, and longer follow-up are necessary to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in AI-induced arthralgia.

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Efficacy of acupuncture in treatment of cancer pain: a systematic review

Abstract: Acupuncture is effective for pain relief. However, the poor quality of the majority of the trials reduces the reliability of the conclusion. More high-quality RCTs are needed to verify the effects.

Cited by 38 publications

References 10 publications

Acupuncture for Treatment of Uncontrolled Pain in Cancer Patients

Acupuncture for Treatment of Uncontrolled Pain in Cancer Patients

Effectiveness of acupuncture and related therapies for palliative care of cancer: Overview of systematic reviews

Acupuncture for Aromatase Inhibitor–Induced Arthralgia

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