Cancer patients turn to acupuncture to cope with symptoms, side effects

Acupuncture is increasingly being used with cancer patients. Dr. Ting Bao, an assistant professor at the University of MarylandSchool of Medicine and faculty at Maryland's Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center and Center for Integrative Medicine, regularly used acupuncture to alleviate pain and treat side effects. Recently the Baltimore Sun published an interview in their Health & Wellness section. Below is an excerpt from that article. Note that I am the only acupuncturist in Iowa with formal training in oncology care and support for both cancer patients and their loved ones. My profound interest in this field led to my completion of Acupuncture Oncology training by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. If you think you or a loved one would benefit from acupuncture, please call or email us today.

Q: Are there studies on effectiveness of treating breast cancerpatients with acupuncture or any in the works? What symptoms of breast cancer and treatment could it help alleviate?

A: Yes, there have been several studies on the effect of acupuncture in helping breast cancer patients. The conditions that acupuncture was shown to help are chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting, tamoxifen-induced hot flashes, and aromatase inhibitor-induced joint pain and stiffness. A number of clinical trials have shown that acupuncture helped reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. So far, there have been three randomized, controlled clinical trials showing that acupuncture significantly alleviates tamoxifen-induced hot flashes in breast cancer patients with minimal side effects. We recently finished a multi-center randomized, controlled trial assessing the effect of acupuncture in reducing aromatase inhibitor induced musculoskeletal symptoms. We are analyzing the data and will present the results soon.

Q: When should a patient expect relief and how long should it last?

A: It depends on the condition the patient is being treated for and the patient's state of health and stage of disease. Some conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting may only require one or two treatments, whereas chronic conditions such as chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (nerve pain) may take 4-8 treatments to see relief. Again, the duration of the treatment response, which may last from hours to weeks, depends on the condition being treated and on the patients themselves. In my acupuncture clinic, depending on the condition being treated, I usually start with once- or twice-weekly acupuncture treatments and then gradually adjust the frequency.