Acupuncture Helps Ease Side Effects and Symptoms of Some Cancers
Acupuncture for Head and Neck Cancer
For many of the more than 100,000 individuals diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year in the United States, the cancer spreads from its primary location to lymph nodes in the neck. When this occurs, nerves known as spinal accessory nerves must also be removed along with the affected lymph node, which can lead to shoulder function problems.
A recent study [PubMed Abstract] conducted by Memorial Sloan Kettering investigators and published in the April 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology sought to determine if acupuncture could reduce pain and dysfunction in individuals with cancer of the head or neck who had received a surgical dissection of lymph nodes in their neck. The study evaluated 58 patients who were suffering from chronic pain or dysfunction as a result of neck dissection. For four weeks, study participants were randomly assigned into one of two groups: those receiving weekly acupuncture sessions and those receiving standard care, which included physical therapy, as well as pain and antiinflammatory medication.
The study found that individuals in the group receiving acupuncture experienced significant reductions in pain and dysfunction when compared with individuals receiving standard care. Individuals in the acupuncture group also reported significant improvement in xerostomia, a condition in which patients receiving adjuvant radiation therapy experience extreme dry mouth.
Acupuncture and Leukemia
Many people with leukemia try additional treatments outside their standard care, hoping to manage symptoms and, in some cases, to improve their treatment outcome. In a commentary [PubMed Abstract]on the subject in the September 2009 issue of Expert Reviews Anticancer Therapies, Memorial Sloan Kettering investigators examined the results from available studies testing the effectiveness of such approaches. They report that among the complementary therapies used to decrease symptoms and side effects, acupuncture is very beneficial for symptom management.
For some leukemia patients, cancer chemotherapy drugs can damage the peripheral nervous system (a condition known as peripheral neuropathy), causing pain, numbness, tingling, swelling, and muscle weakness in various parts of the body, especially in the hands and feet. In some cases, doctors must reduce the chemotherapy dose in order to prevent the neuropathy from progressing further. Acupuncture has been found to decrease these difficult neuropathy symptoms, allowing the maximum amount of chemotherapy to be used, thereby increasing the patient’s chance for a successful outcome.
Acupuncture is also known to reduce the effects of nausea caused by a variety of chemotherapy agents used to treat leukemia. Research has shown that timing the acupuncture sessions one to two days before chemotherapy infusion and continued weekly throughout the chemotherapy regimen produces the best results. In addition, the authors note that acupuncture has been proven safe for patients receiving the anticoagulation drugs Coumadin® or heparin during their leukemia treatment.
The review’s authors note that, in general, it is important to distinguish between complementary therapies — including acupuncture, self-hypnosis, yoga, meditation, and therapeutic massage — and alternative therapies, which are unproven and ineffective, and may interfere with mainstream cancer treatments.
Acupuncture and Breast Cancer
A significant number of breast cancers have receptors for the hormone estrogen. These receptor-positive breast tumors are more likely to respond to therapy with anti-estrogen medications, which take advantage of the cancer cells’ dependence on hormones for growth. Women with these tumors are often given treatment that blocks the production of estrogen, which is meant to slow the growth of the tumor. These treatments can induce early menopause, leading to symptoms such as hot flashes, fatigue, and excessive sweating. Because these women cannot receive hormone replacement therapy, which is usually used to treat such symptoms, doctors typically prescribe antidepressants such as the drug venlafaxine (Effexor).
A recent study examined whether acupuncture reduces some of these common side effects and produces fewer adverse effects than antidepressants. In the study [PubMed Abstract], published in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, 50 women with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer were assigned into one of two groups. The first group received 12 weeks of acupuncture, and the second group received treatment with venlafaxine.
Both groups experienced significant decreases in hot flashes, depressive symptoms, and other quality-of-life symptoms. However, women in the group taking venlafaxine began to re-experience their symptoms about two weeks after stopping drug therapy. In comparison, it took 15 weeks for the symptoms to return for women in the group receiving acupuncture. In addition, women in the acupuncture group reported no significant side effects during treatment, while the group taking venlafaxine experienced 18 incidences of adverse effects, including nausea, dry mouth, dizziness, and anxiety.
How Acupuncture Impacts IVF Success Rates?
Despite your best efforts, building a family sometimes requires outside help. Maybe you are not ovulating or your partner’s sperm numbers are low. Whatever the reasons, you aren’t alone. Nearly seven million American women will seek fertility treatment during their reproductive years, and surveys suggest between one-quarter and one-half add acupuncture to support their conventional treatments. As a Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine who specializes in reproductive medicine, I am often asked how acupuncture and Chinese medicine can help improve one’s chances of success. Acupuncture is but one treatment within the whole system of Chinese medicine. We don’t fully understand how acupuncture works, but here are three evidence-based ways acupuncture helps patients conceive when other measures alone don’t seem to be working.
1. Acupuncture improves blood flow
One of the first orders of business in supporting reproduction is to ensure your reproductive organs are receiving adequate nourishment. Stress and/or aging can lead to a decline in blood flow to the uterus and ovaries. Acupuncture can increase blood flow by slowing down (or “down-regulating”) the nervous system (central sympathetic nervous system) which then causes the blood vessels to dilate. When the vessels dilate, they release a flood of nutrient dense blood to the ovaries and uterus. Increased ovarian blood flow may help with response to fertility medications. Increased uterine blood flow ensures a thick uterine lining and sets up an ideal environment for implantation. Better response, better eggs, better lining.
2. Acupuncture reduces stress
Couples undergoing fertility treatments experience immense amounts of stress. It is a common reason for stopping treatment altogether. Acupuncture can help reduce the stress. Research shows that when needles are placed in the skin, the body releases its own natural pain killers (endorphins). Endorphins are responsible for the relaxed feeling one gets after a session. It causes your muscles to relax, your breathing to slow, and your mind to calm. We call it “acu-stoned.” This blissful benefit from acupuncture was cited by IVF patients as helping them feel more relaxed during their fertility treatment, and as a result, also feel more “in control.”
3. Acupuncture improves your odds of having a baby with IVF.
The ultimate goal is to have a healthy mother and baby and to give yourself the best chance of success. The acupuncture and IVF research is a little confusing, even after consulting two of the larger analyses, from Mannheimer, and Cheong, respectively. In some studies, acupuncture performed on the day the embryo is placed back in the uterus improved pregnancy rates when compared to a control, while in other studies investigators saw no difference in pregnancy rates. How can we explain this? I think we are looking at the wrong “dose” of acupuncture. Just like the amount of gonadotropins is important to ensuring egg development, so is the dose of acupuncture. In my own published research, I looked at five years of data on women who did IVF alone and compared that with women who added acupuncture on the day of embryo transfer and women who had acupuncture during their IVF cycles, around 13 to 15 sessions. The women who added more acupuncture sessions were twice as likely to have a baby compared to women who did IVF alone, and 60% more likely when compared with women who just had two acupuncture treatments on the day of embryo transfer. Acupuncture helped their IVF outcomes. The key difference was that patients received more treatment.
If you are interested in adding acupuncture to your IVF cycle, ask your doctor for a referral. If your doctor doesn’t have a referral or you have your own, ask your acupuncturist about their level of training and experience in treating fertility patients. They should be able to describe their cases and successes with you, and if they have not established a relationship with your doctor, they should be willing to do so. Some acupuncturists who specialize in treating fertility patients are Fellows of the American Board of Oriental Medicine, which requires its Fellows to pass an exam and receive continuing medical education.
At your initial acupuncture consultation, you can expect a review of your medical history including your bloodwork and tests, gynecological history, review of your partner’s sperm analysis, an interview including a thorough review of systems, and physical exams that include observing the tongue and palpating the wrist pulses. Chinese medicine practitioners will evaluate you based on the system of Chinese medicine and a treatment plan will be made. You can start treatment anytime, but at a minimum, start acupuncture treatment during suppression for the best outcomes.
Acupuncture boosts effectiveness of standard medical care for chronic pain, depression
Date:January 30, 2017 Source: University of York Summary: Acupuncture treatment can boost the effectiveness of standard medical care, lessening the severity of chronic pain and depression, health specialists have found.
Health specialists at the University of York have found than acupuncture treatment can boost the effectiveness of standard medical care, lessening the severity of chronic pain and depression.
In a report published in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Journals Library, the researchers showed that there is significant evidence to demonstrate that acupuncture provides more than a placebo effect.
Professor of Acupuncture Research, Hugh MacPherson, working with a team of scientists from the UK and US, brought together the results of 29 high quality clinical trials focused on patients treated with acupuncture and standard medical care.
In the majority of these trials, patients with chronic pain treated with acupuncture and standard medical care were tested against those who were provided with standard medical care alone, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and physiotherapy. The trials involved approximately 18,000 patients diagnosed with chronic pain of the neck, lower back, head, and knee.
The report shows that the addition of acupuncture compared to standard medical care alone significantly reduced the number of headaches and migraine attacks and reduced the severity of neck and lower back pain. It also showed that acupuncture reduced the pain and disability of osteoarthritis, which led to patients being less reliant on anti-inflammatory tablets to control pain.
The study also concluded that acupuncture is cost effective, with the value for money being rated as less than the threshold of £20,000 cost per quality of life year — a metric for cost-effectiveness used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Professor MacPherson, from the University of York’s Department of Health Sciences, said: “There has been an increase in practitioners using acupuncture as an intervention. Approximately four million acupuncture treatments are provided a year in the UK, but the evidence to show how clinically effective this form of treatment is has been limited.
“There has been a question mark for many years over whether policy and decision makers should or should not provide wider access to acupuncture. Our aim was to bring together data from high quality clinical trials and provide a robust evidence base that will help reduce this uncertainty and support commissioners and health professionals in making informed decisions backed up with research.”
The team also conducted a new clinical trial for depression, where acupuncture or counselling was provided and compared to the effectiveness of medication, such as antidepressants.
In a study of 755 patients with depression in the North of England, researchers showed that both acupuncture and counselling significantly reduced the severity of depressions and that these benefits were largely sustained for up to 12 months after treatment.
Professor MacPherson said: “The front-line treatment for depression in primary care usually involves antidepressants; however, they do not work well for more than half of patients.
“In the largest study of its kind, we have now provided a solid evidence base to show that not only can acupuncture and counselling bring patients out of an episode of depression, but it can keep the condition at bay for up to a year on average.”
The benefits of acupuncture are partially associated with placebo effects, which has contributed to the uncertainty around acupuncture’s clinical effectiveness. Professor MacPherson states, however, that this new research provides definitive evidence that when acupuncture is used to treat chronic pain, the reductions in pain are substantially more than those measured from sham (placebo) acupuncture.
Used only in clinical trials for research purposes, sham acupuncture involves inserting needles at the ‘wrong’ locations, or using non-inserted needles (fake needles) at the correct locations. That ‘true’ acupuncture has significantly more effect in reducing pain than sham acupuncture, provides evidence that acupuncture is not simply a placebo effect.
Professor MacPherson added: “Our new data provides a significant step forward in treating chronic pain and managing depression, because patients and health professionals can now make decisions on acupuncture with more confidence. Not only is it more cost effective, but it reduces pain levels and improves mood levels, which could reduce over reliance on drugs that can sometimes result in unwanted side effects.”