The Potential Role for Acupuncture in Treating Symptoms in Patients with Lung Cancer: An Observational Longitudinal Study

Abstract

was reported by 61% of patients for pain and by 33% for well-being.A significant positive correlation between improved well-being and the number of acupuncture sessions was observed. This correlation remained significant even after controlling for treatment and narcotic use. Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated that a minimum of 6 acupuncture sessions are required for a 70% chance of a clinically important improvement in well-being. ConclusionsThe present study is the first to demonstrate that acupuncture may be an effective approach for improving symptoms-in particular, pain and well-being-in lung cancer patients. Acupuncture is a safe and minimally invasive procedure, and it is potentially useful even in patients undergoing anticancer treatment.

Novel Intervention With Acupuncture for Anorexia and Cachexia in Patients With Gastrointestinal Tract Cancers: A Feasibility Study

“…Other studies have supported these results, such as a study of patients with lung cancer (Kasymjanova et al, 2013) that found that an acupuncture intervention was safe, feasible, and tolerable, and resulted in statisti cally significant improvement in appetite. That study reported seven sessions as the m edian num ber of acu puncture sessions (range = 4-13), and the current study used eight sessions consistently for each participant.…”

Effect of Acupuncture in Pain Management of Head and Neck Cancer Radiotherapy: Prospective Randomized Unicentric Study

“…A United States study by Miller et al [ 15 ] published a similar statistically significant decrease in tumor-related pain in patients receiving palliative care as a result of acupuncture. Kasymjanova et al [ 16 ] present another study focusing on tumor-related pain, which recorded a decrease in pain in 61% of patients when acupuncture was used. A review published by Lian et al [ 17 ] in 2014 discussed six studies dealing with pain therapy used against adverse effects of oncologic therapies.…”

Patient-reported Outcomes of Acupuncture for Symptom Control in Cancer

“…Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard for establishing the effectiveness of acupuncture; however, patient-reported outcomes may also be needed to understand whether patients perceive acupuncture to be effective [24]. In recent observational studies, cancer patients have reported improvements in symptoms such as pain, nausea, anxiety, and well-being after receiving acupuncture [25,26]. An acupuncture service was established in 2005 at the Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, FL, USA), which is a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in southeast United States and serves > 50,000 patients per year with nearly 340,000 outpatient visits.…”