Acupuncture to Reduce the Side-Effects of

Chemotherapy
by Shelly Phegley (more info)
listed in cancer, originally published in issue 127 - September 2006

This article focuses on acupuncture and how it helps to reduce the side-effects of
chemotherapy.

In a review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, certain types of acupuncture-

point stimulation may relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting.

Last year the Journal of the American Medical Association also published a study which
reported: patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy found that electro-acupuncture
treatments combined with anti-nausea medication were more effective than medication
alone in controlling their chemo-related vomiting.

According to cancer experts, this particular study adds to the evidence that non-
traditional therapies can be helpful to patients suffering side-effects of chemotherapy. As
a result, an increasing number of well-designed studies are now focusing on
complementary and alternative therapies.

Additional support for acupuncture to assist in alleviating the side-effects of

chemotherapy was also offered at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in
December 2000.

David Rosenthal, MD, Chair of the American Cancer Society's national advisory
committee on complementary and alternative medicine says that 'patients are finding
that acupuncture can sometimes be effective in dealing with pain, nausea and treatment
of mucositis'. He adds that acupuncture treatment is being provided at
many cancer centres in the US, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston
where appointments are totally booked up.

Acupuncture, which dates as far back as the first millennium BC, has been championed
by practitioners, doctors and patients as an effective vehicle for achieving balanced
health.

Acupuncture uses thin needles that are inserted just under the skin and left in place for
about half-an-hour. According to Chinese medicine theory, acupuncture helps restore
balance and a healthy energy flow within the body.
Although scientists don't fully understand how or why acupuncture works, some studies
indicate that it may provide a number of medical benefits, including the reduction of
chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

Chemotherapy is a treatment for cancers; it involves administering chemicals into the

body that are toxic to malignant cells. Chemotherapy, often successful in treating
malignant cancer cells, often produces intense side-effects in the body.

According to a review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, certain types of

acupuncture-point stimulation may relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting.

Despite significant progress over the past decade in controlling chemotherapy-induced

nausea and vomiting, more than half of all patients receiving chemotherapy still suffer
from these side-effects. Furthermore, nausea may persist when vomiting is controlled.
These symptoms can be severely debilitating, and often lead patients to refuse further
courses of chemotherapy. Refusing chemotherapy can minimize the chance of optimal
health.

The acupuncture point thought to be associated with relief of nausea is P6, which is
located on the wrist. This point can be stimulated through a variety of methods, including
manual acupuncture (insertion of needles), electro-acupuncture (passing electric current
through the inserted needle), non-invasive electro-stimulation (application of electric
current without a needle), or acupressure (pressure applied by the fingers or an elastic
wristband).

Patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy found that electro-acupuncture treatments

combined with anti-nausea medication were more effective than medication alone in
controlling their chemo-related vomiting, according to a study reported in the December
6, 2005 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

According to cancer experts, the study adds to the evidence that non-traditional
therapies can be helpful to patients suffering from side-effects of chemotherapy. An
increasing number of well-designed studies are focusing on complementary and
alternative therapies.

Additional support for acupuncture to assist in alleviating the side-effects of

chemotherapy was offered at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, in December
2000.

One hundred and four women who were undergoing high-dose chemotherapy prior to
having bone marrow transplants received anti-nausea drugs. In addition, each woman
received either electro-acupuncture once a day for five days, 'minimal needling' with no
electrical stimulation once a day for five days, or no additional therapy.
The women who received electro-acupuncture experienced significantly less nausea and
vomiting than the women who didn't receive any needling, or who had only acupuncture.
The women who received acupuncture without electrical stimulation also had less
nausea and vomiting than the women who received no acupuncture.

The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium offered the following 'take home
message': Acupuncture may help curb nausea, one of the most feared and debilitating
side-effects of high-dose chemotherapy. It may provide additional relief of nausea
beyond what medication alone can achieve.

David Rosenthal, MD, Chair of the American Cancer Society's (ACS) national advisory
committee on complementary and alternative medicine, agrees that more research is
merited. "The effects of this treatment might vary between different chemotherapy
patient populations," he says. "You would also like to know if the benefit is enough, not
only in efficacy but in efficiency.

"Still," he says, "Patients are finding that acupuncture can sometimes be effective in
dealing with pain, nausea, and treatment of mucositis (ulcerations in the mouth)."
Acupuncture treatment is being provided at manycancer centres, including the Dana-
Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where Rosenthal is in charge of integrative therapies.
"We began offering acupuncture a month ago and the appointments are already filled,"
he said.