Acupuncture as a Complementary Therapy for Cancer-Induced Bone Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundCancer-induced bone pain (CIBP) is a special type of cancer pain and lacks safe and effective treatments. Acupuncture is a potentially valuable treatment for CIBP, studies evaluating the effect of acupuncture on CIBP have increased significantly, but the safety and efficacy of acupuncture to control CIBP remains controversial.ObjectiveTo provide the first meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of acupuncture in CIBP management.Data SourcesCNKI, CBM, Wanfang, VIP Database, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched from their inception until 1 June 2022.Study SelectionRCTs with primary bone tumor patients or other types of primary cancer companied by bone metastases as the research subjects and to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture treatment alone or combined with the control treatment were included. Meanwhile, RCTs should choose the pain score as the primary outcome and pain relief rate, frequency of breakthrough pain, analgesic onset time, analgesia duration, quality of life, and adverse events as reference outcomes.Data Collection and AnalysisWe designed a data-extraction form that was used to extract key information from the articles. Data extraction study evaluation was conducted independently by two reviewers, and a third reviewer would resolve any disagreements. The risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing the risk bias. The quality of the evidence for main outcomes was evaluated by the GRADE system. Mean differences (MD), relative risk (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The forest plots were performed using the Review Manager Software (5.3 version). Subgroup analysis was used to investigate the possible sources of potential heterogeneity. Descriptive analysis was performed in case of unacceptable clinical heterogeneity.ResultsThirteen RCTs (with 1,069 patients) were included, and all studies were at high risk of bias owing to lack of blinding or other bias. Eleven studies evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture as a complementary therapy, and showed that acupuncture plus control treatment (compared with control treatment) was connected with reduced pain intensity (MD = −1.34, 95% CI −1.74 to −0.94; Q < 0.1; I2 = 98%, P < 0.01). Subgroup analyses based on acupoints type partly explain the potential heterogeneity. The results also showed that acupuncture plus control treatment (compared with control treatment) was connected with relieving pain intensity, increasing the pain relief rate, reducing the frequency of breakthrough pain, shortening analgesic onset time, extending the analgesic duration, and improving the quality of life. We have no sufficient evidence to prove the effectiveness of acupuncture alone. Four RCTs reported only adverse events related to opioids' side effects. Evidence was qualified as “very low” because of low methodological quality, considerable heterogeneity, or a low number of included studies.ConclusionAcupuncture has a certain effect as a complementary therapy on pain management of CIBP, which not only mitigates the pain intensity but also improves the quality of life and reduces the incidence of opioids' side effects, although the evidence level was very low. In future, a larger sample size and rigorously designed RCTs are needed to provide sufficient evidence to identify the efficacy and safety of acupuncture as a treatment for CIBP.

An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Clinical Studies of Acupuncture for Cancer Pain

“…Full-text reading of the remaining literature further excluded 7 publications. Finally, 14 publications 23 -36 were included. The process of publication selection is shown in Figure 1.…”

“…Ten reviews 24,26,28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36] reported pain relief rates after the intervention. The results of these reviews 24,26,28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36] indicated that the pain relief rate in the intervention group (acupuncture plus drug therapy) was significantly higher than that in the control group (drug therapy). However, acupuncture treatment alone was not superior to drug in improving the pain relief rate.…”

“…However, 2 reviews 24,27 suggested no difference between these 2 groups. The results of 8 reviews [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]36 indicated that the reduction of pain intensity in the intervention group (acupuncture plus drug therapy) was significantly higher than that in the control group (drug therapy). Two reviews 26,33 reported the onset time of pain relief after the intervention, and the results indicated that the combined treatment was significantly superior to drug alone.…”

“…The results of 8 reviews [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]36 indicated that the reduction of pain intensity in the intervention group (acupuncture plus drug therapy) was significantly higher than that in the control group (drug therapy). Two reviews 26,33 reported the onset time of pain relief after the intervention, and the results indicated that the combined treatment was significantly superior to drug alone. Two reviews 26,33 reported the duration of pain relief after the intervention, and the results indicated that the combined treatment was significantly superior to drug alone.…”

“…Furthermore, the results of 1 review 29 indicated that adjunctive therapy with acupuncture helped to reduce the use of analgesic. Items Peng 23 Choi 24 Paley 25 Hu 26 Chiu 27 Bian 28 He 29 Wang 30 Dong 31 Li 32 Yan 33 Zhang 34 Zhang 35 Si 36 Compliance (%)…”