Study Shows That Acupuncture And Acupressure Can Help Cancer Patients Deal With Pain
According to a review published in
JAMA Oncology Journal, the use of
acupuncture and/or
acupressure is associated with reduced
cancer pain and decreased use of analgesics
Dr Yihan He, Ph.D., from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine in China, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to identify randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that compared
acupuncture and
acupressure with a sham control, analgesic therapy, or usual care for managing
cancer pain.
The medical researchers identified 17 RCTs (1,111 patients) and used data from 14 RCTs (920 patients) in the meta-analysis. Seven high-quality sham-controlled RCTs (35 percent) showed that real, compared with sham,
acupuncture was associated with reduced
pain intensity. Among six RCTs, there was a positive association noted between the combination of
acupuncture and a
cupressure with analgesic therapy for reducing
pain intensity. Two RCTs showed that the combination reduced opioid dose. Due to significant heterogeneity among the studies, the evidence was graded as moderate.
Dr Yihan He told
Thailand Medical News via a telephone interview, "This study findings suggests that more rigorous trials are needed to identify the association of
acupuncture and
acupressure with specific types of
cancer pain and to integrate such evidence into clinical care to reduce opioid use."
The researchers have already commenced a more detailed study to correlate the effects of
acupuncture from a medical perspective on
pain management in
cancer patients.
Reference: Clinical Evidence for Association of Acupuncture and Acupressure With Improved Cancer Pain ,A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Yihan He, PhD; Xinfeng Guo, PhD; Brian H. May, PhD; et alAnthony Lin Zhang, PhD; Yihong Liu, MM; Chuanjian Lu, MD; Jun J. Mao, MD; Charlie Changli Xue, PhD; Haibo Zhang, MD
JAMA Oncol. Published online December 19, 2019. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.5233
