A pilot study carried out in China suggests that acupuncture may be effective for reducing cancer pain. In a randomised trial, 42 patients with moderate to severe cancer pain were randomly assigned to three different groups. Those in group one were needled at the ‘Four Gates’ (Si Guan  – bilateral Hegu L.I.4 and Taichong LIV-3), group two received needling at the Four Gates combined with bilateral Neiguan P-6, Zusanli ST-36 and Sanyinjiao SP-6, and group three received needling at bilateral Neiguan P-6, Zusanli ST-36 and Sanyinjiao SP-6 only. All received seven sessions of treatment over a two-week period. Patients in...Weiterlesen

An American pilot study suggests that acupuncture may have a protective effect on white blood cell (WBC) populations in women undergoing chemotherapy for gynaecological malignancies. Twenty-one ovarian cancer patients received either active or sham acupuncture while undergoing myelosuppressive chemotherapy. A standardised acupuncture protocol involving manual and electrical stimulation was applied two to three times per week for a total of 10 sessions, starting one week before the second cycle of chemotherapy. The median leukocyte value in the acupuncture group was significantly higher on the first day of the third cycle of chemotherapy than in the control (8600 cell/µL versus 4400...Weiterlesen

Quelle: http://www.healthcmi.com  Acupuncture is effective for the prevention of nausea and vomiting caused by cisplatin based chemotherapy. Researchers at the Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine (Hebei, China) conducted a study comparing the effects of drug therapy as a standalone procedure with acupuncture combined with drug therapy. Based on the data, the researchers conclude that acupuncture plus antiemetic drug therapy is significantly more effective than using only antiemetic drug therapy. Two groups were compared. In one group, chemotherapy patients received only tropisetron hydrochloride as a means to control nausea and vomiting. In the second group, tropisetron hydrochloride was...Weiterlesen

Quelle (15 APRIL 2016): http://www.healthcmi.com Acupuncture and herbs produce optimal positive patient outcomes for patients with peripheral neuropathy due to chemotherapy. Research demonstrates that acupuncture and herbs alleviate pain and numbness of the arms and legs caused by the adverse effects of chemotherapy for patients with several types of cancer. The results demonstrate that a combined protocol of acupuncture and herbal medicine produces a 90% total effective rate for the relief of pain and numbness. LI4 (Hegu) Needling Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine alleviate extremity pain and numbness induced by chemotherapy neurotoxicity according to research published in the Shandong Medical...Weiterlesen

Quelle (11 JUNE 2014): http://www.healthcmi.com Acupuncture reduces chemotherapy side effects for colorectal cancer patients. New research confirms that acupuncture benefits the immune system and improves the psychological state for these patients. Blood samples prove that acupuncture enhances the immune system’s NK (natural killer) cells for colorectal cancer patients. Subjective testing showed improved mental health scores after acupuncture. The researchers concluded that acupuncture is both “feasible and safe for CRC (colorectal cancer) patients….” The research team commented that NK cells are “a first line of defence against the metastatic spread of tumour cells.” Data shows that decreases in NK cell numbers and...Weiterlesen

Acupuncture and moxibustion may stimulate anti-cancer immunity, protect bone marrow cells and minimise drug side-effects in colon cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, according to a pilot study carried out in Portugal. Eighteen cancer patients were randomised to either acupuncture treatment or a wait list control group. Patients in the treatment group received six sessions of acupuncture twice a week, beginning one week prior to their first cycle of chemotherapy and ending at the beginning of the following cycle of chemotherapy. The experimental group received acupuncture at Taichong LIV-3, Zusanli ST-36, Sanyinjiao SP-3, and Xuanzhong GB-39, Hegu L.I.-4, Jianshi PC5, Waiguan SJ-5...Weiterlesen

Twelve patients with radiation-induced xerostomia were randomised into real or sham acupuncture groups. Acupuncture was conducted twice weekly for six weeks in a single-blind setting. The effect was evaluated by measuring salivary flow rates (stimulated and unstimulated) and questionnaire-based assessment of subjective symptoms pre- and at three and six weeks post-treatment. Both groups showed a slight increase in salivary flow rates, with no significant difference between them. However, real acupuncture markedly increased unstimulated salivary flow rates, and improved the score for dry mouth according to a xerostomia questionnaire, by 2.33 points versus 0.33 in controls. The authors conclude that the...Weiterlesen

Acupuncture may be a useful adjunctive treatment for reducing fatigue in palliative cancer care, report Chinese investigators. They performed a randomised pilot trial on 28 lung cancer patients presenting with cancer-related fatigue (CRF) who were randomly assigned to receive verum acupuncture (bilateral Hegu L.I.-4, Qihai REN-6, Zusanli ST-36, Taichong KID-3 and Sanyinjiao SP-6) or placebo acupuncture (using a non-penetrating placebo needle at the same points), twice per week for four weeks. A significant reduction in fatigue scores was observed after two weeks of treatment in the participants who received verum acupuncture compared with those receiving the placebo treatment. At week...Weiterlesen

Quelle (10 JUNE 2013): http://www.healthcmi.com A groundbreaking new study concludes that acupuncture treatments correlate to improvements in symptoms experienced by lung cancer patients. The study notes that lung cancer patients experience pain, depression, anxiety, nausea and a lack of well-being associated with either the disease or cancer treatments. The researchers discovered that a minimum of six acupuncture treatments was required to exert a 70% chance of a “clinically important improvement in well-being.” The study demonstrated that acupuncture treatments improved symptoms including pain, appetite loss, nausea, anxiety and an overall feeling of well-being. The researchers note that there is a clinically...Weiterlesen

ABSTRACT Purpose: Acupuncture has been used as a complementary medical treatment for arthralgia and other types of pain. The objective of this review is to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of arthralgia in patients with breast cancer who were treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs). Methods: A literature search was performed, without language restrictions, of 10 databases from their inception through February 2014. The literature reviewed included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and clinical trials that compared real versus sham acupuncture for the treatment of AI-related musculoskeletal symptoms (AIMSS). The methodologic quality of these trials was assessed by using...Weiterlesen