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New research demonstrates that acupuncture is an effective treatment for hot flashes in breast cancer survivors. The research reveals that acupuncture reduces both the frequency and intensity of hot flashes while at the same time improving the overall quality of sleep. Researchers examined feedback and found that the acupuncture treatments were described as relaxing by most participants. The researchers also noted that the results show that acupuncture is cost effective, safe and does not exhibit the adverse affects caused by medications
Data from the research discovered that acupuncture improved the overall quality of life score over venlafaxine. Acupuncture improved symptoms but did not induce unwanted side effects. The medication venlafaxine, however, caused a 72% incidence of adverse affects. The researchers noted that in one study venlafaxine side effects caused 21% of study participants to withdraw due to the severity of the adverse effects. Acupuncture, by contrast, improved the overall quality of life and improved symptoms. Acupuncture and venlafaxine decreased hot flashes, improved menopausal symptoms and reduced mental health issues. The researchers noted that acupuncture is “only modestly more costly” than venlafaxine but does not have the unwanted side effects of the medication.
The researchers also discovered data showing that acupuncture decreases the frequency of hot flashes associated with tamoxifen intake. Patients are often given this estrogen antagonist as a means to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer. The data showed a significant reduction in hot flashes as a result of acupuncture treatments to the point where patients were able to continue tamoxifen intake. Prior, the side effects of the drug prompted discontinuation of the cancer prevention drug. In this way, acupuncture may enable patients to continue with cancer medication therapy by controlling adverse effects.
The study showed a 71% decrease in the number of nighttime hot flashes as a result of acupuncture treatment. Prior to acupuncture treatment, participants averaged 1 - 20 nighttime hot flashes. Following the acupuncture treatment regime, the average number of nighttime hot flashes reduced to 0 - 5 per night. A 60% decrease occurred in daytime hot flashes as a result of acupuncture treatment. In addition, all participants in the study had a significant decrease in the severity of hot flashes following the acupuncture treatment regime. All participants were given a questionnaire following the acupuncture treatment regime and all participants noted they would recommend acupuncture to a family member or friend.
The patients in the study provided some interesting responses. One participant noted, “It was relaxing during the treatment.” This was a common comment with others stating, “It was relaxing. I enjoyed the quietness,” while another participant noted, “I felt relaxed, calm, and in control of my emotions.” Patients also gave personal comments on the efficacy of care in their feedback. One participant noted, “It minimized my hot flashes,” another noted that, “They actually worked. I also enjoyed the total wellness.” One patient noted that, “It decreased my hot flashes and I sweat a lot less.” Another patient provided similar feedback, “I noticed improvements immediately in sleep patterns. I didn’t wake in the middle of the night with hot sweats. My hot flashes were less often even during the day.”
Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer for women in the USA. Severe hot flashes that adversely affect the lives of breast cancer survivors occurs at a rate of approximately 85%. Pharmaceutical approaches to the management of hot flashes pose three obstacles. Many drugs are ineffective in controlling hot flashes. Many effective drugs are contraindicated for breast cancer survivors. Lastly, many drugs cause severe side effects and cause women to discontinue medication. Acupuncture was found safe, effective and well received for the treatment of hot flashes. The implications are enormous in that the overall quality of life scores increased while hot flashes decreased. Additionally, acupuncture enables tolerable intake of medications used to prevent breast cancer recurrence. Call today to schedule a session with Rachel!
Reference: Misiewicz, Hollis. "Acupuncture for the Management of Hot Flashes in Breast Cancer Survivors." Mercy Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland (2013).
Women in study had less physical, mental fatigue and better quality of life
Offering breast cancer patients a relatively short regimen of acupuncture alongside standard treatment can help alleviate some of the crippling fatigue that often accompanies the disease, according to a new study.
The magnitude of help that patients undergoing acupuncture experienced was deemed by the study team to be "both statistically and clinically important."
"I am quite excited with these results," said study lead author Alex Molassiotis, a professor of cancer and supportive care with the school of nursing, midwifery and social work at the University of Manchester, in England. "They provide some good evidence of an effect of acupuncture for the management of a very debilitating and burdensome symptom for patients."
"The addition of a new treatment approach gives patients and health professionals more options," Molassiotis added, noting that the range of options specifically designed to address fatigue issues among cancer patients has been limited.
The study appeared online Oct. 29 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
More than 40 percent of breast cancer patients experience significant cancer-related fatigue, according to background information included in the study. For some patients the problem may persist at a moderate or even severe level for years following the cessation of treatment.
To explore the potential of acupuncture treatment, the authors focused on more than 300 women with breast cancer who were being cared for as outpatients at one of nine health care facilities across the United Kingdom.
At the time of the study, participants had been diagnosed with either stage 1, 2 or 3 breast cancer, and all had been experiencing at least moderate levels of fatigue for an average of 18 months. Most were white, and their average age was 53.
For a six-week period, all patients continued to receive the same care they had been receiving before the study, and all were additionally given an information booklet that tackled the issue of fatigue management.
However, more than 200 of the patients also were randomly chosen to undergo weekly 20-minute acupuncture sessions that involved needle placement at three different entry points.
By the end of the six-week period, those who had received acupuncture appeared to fare better on every measure of fatigue that the team assessed.
Specifically, those in the acupuncture group reported feeling notably better than the "usual-care" group in terms of overall fatigue, physical and mental fatigue, anxiety and depression levels, functional well-being, emotional well-being, social functioning, and overall quality of life.
"Acupuncture is a complementary therapy that not only can have direct effects on the symptom experience of patients, but also ... provide the opportunity [for] patients to be more involved with their symptom management and empower them more," Molassiotis said. "Patients also like 'natural' and 'traditional' approaches to health management."...
Dr. Laura Kruper, director of the Cooper-Finkel Women's Health Center and chief of the breast surgery service at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif., described the British effort as both "well done" and "strong."
"Acupuncture has been used in a variety of settings within medicine, such as to control chemotherapy-related nausea, post-operative nausea, migraines and chronic pain," she said. "It is still not exactly known how acupuncture works, but that does not mean it does not have therapeutic benefit."
But, while noting that "many patients turn to complementary therapies to bridge the gaps that Western medicine does not fill," Kruper stressed the need "to ensure that these therapies are safe, effective and reliable."
"In the world of medicine, we rely on investigational studies to guide our treatment decisions so that we provide evidence-based medicine," she said. "Complementary therapies need to undergo the same rigorous tests that Western medicine does. This study was exemplary in that it was conducted with adherence to the principles of scientific method, and hopefully a study like this will be the first of many."
As our clinic here in Iowa City expands, we are in the early stages of finding ways to serve a broader community - and to make acupuncture more affordable. Many patients at Health On Point are either students or have health insurance that doesn't reimburse for treatments. Please read the article below. It demonstrates how one acupuncturist solved this issue. What do YOU think? Would a group acupuncture treatment be of interest? Let us know!
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Acupuncturist Jamie Starkey inserts a needle into Jeff Husney's
forehead in the shared acupuncture room at the Cleveland Clinic. |
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Treatment for Jeff Husney's head and neck cancer made him a survivor but diminished something many of us take for granted -- the ability to eat.The radiation aimed at the cancerous growth on Husney's tonsils left collateral damage in the form of compromised salivary glands. That, and the post-surgical scar tissue that built up around his jaw, made chewing and swallowing hard for the past four years -- and doctors told him he'd probably have to live with that. Difficulty chewing and digesting food can be common for people who have been treated for head and neck cancers. Yet Husney, 52, of Olmsted Falls, found significant relief for what he'd been told might be a permanent condition -- through acupuncture. After just a few acupuncture treatments, some of Husney's salivary function began to return, and his jaw started moving more easily. "I'm very blessed -- my eating is gradually returning to what is close to normal," he said in a recent interview. "I ate my first apple today, without having to have a glass of water to wash down every small bite." Patients get acupuncture for a variety of medical reasons. Some, like Husney, are current or former oncology patients; others might be suffering from severe menopausal symptoms. Some have post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression or joint pain. A number suffer from xerostomia -- dry mouth, the condition that Husney has -- after being treated for thyroid conditions or cancer. But acupuncture treatments cost $100 per session -- and Husney was having one or two a week. Medical insurance rarely covers acupuncture treatment, so patients pay out of pocket. For example, Medical Mutual of Ohio covers acupuncture only if a company has 50 or more insured employees and the employer wants it covered, said a company spokesman. It doesn't cover acupuncture in its individual policies. Jamie Starkey, the lead acupuncture therapist at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Integrative Medicine in Lyndhurst, has been working with Husney since last summer. She was bothered that he and other patients might not be able to afford a treatment that could improve their quality of life. "It made me sick to my stomach that this treatment could be cost-prohibitive to patients whom it could help," Starkey said. She had an idea, though. She recalled that when she studied acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine in Beijing, Chinese patients almost always got their acupuncture treatments in a group setting. Because of that, one acupuncture center there might treat 200 to 250 patients a day. To her, the idea of shared appointments made sense: Because once the ultrafine needles are placed into the skin, there's a long period where the patient just rests -- perhaps 45 minutes -- with occasional check-ins by the therapist. In fact, it's part of a new trend in this country known as Community Style Acupuncture (CSA) or sometimes community acupuncture. But first, said Starkey, "I needed to make sure I could create a program where I could see a volume of people without compromising the outcome of their treatments." So Starkey started the six-week pilot project in mid-October, using the employee meditation room at the Lyndhurst campus of the Clinic's Center for Integrative Medicine. She had the support of two allies: Dr. Michael Roizen, the clinic's chief wellness officer; and Dr. Tanya Edwards, medical director for the center. "It took a lot of planning and research, and we wanted to make sure we could pull it off," Starkey said. So, for the pilot project, she and staffers placed 10 recliners in a darkened room that had been used for employee meditation. They angled the chairs in such a way that patients couldn't see each other. They did not believe additional separation was necessary as acupuncture patients don't have to undress -- they just roll up their sleeves or pants legs, or maybe expose a part of their belly. It is important to Starkey, however, that she sees a patient one-on-one for the first appointment. "I want to be able to communicate with them about what they need, and what they expect as far as outcomes," she said. She also explains how acupuncture might work to improve their condition. Also, Starkey said, some patients might have conditions that require needles in their backs or necks, so they have to lie facedown on a table. In that case, shared appointments might not be appropriate. Based on patient outcomes after six weeks -- there were between two and 13 patients at each of the shared appointments during the pilot -- the clinic deemed it a success, and Starkey began offering the shared appointments one afternoon each week. After an initial one-on-one visit, a patient can book a shared appointment, which costs $40 instead of $100. He or she enters the room, chooses a chair and prepares for the treatment. Soothing music plays quietly as Starkey and the patient speak to each other briefly, in quiet tones. She inserts the needles. "Some people have told me they feel like they're in group meditation," Starkey said. Some relax or doze off. Husney described it this way: "The lights are down, there's a little music, and it puts you in a meditative state. I feel like I'm alone, but then when I'm finished, I look around and the room is filled up." At the end of an appointment, Starkey checks in with each patient. Some don't respond to acupuncture, said Starkey, and she advises them to follow up with their doctors if they don't seem to be progressing. Husney, who owns and operates a landscape design firm with his wife, still has some neck and jaw stiffness and dry-mouth symptoms, but said that all have measurably improved. Being able to partake in shared appointments has been a huge financial relief, he said -- sometimes he goes once a week, sometimes less often. After being in a cancer support group, "I was open to just about anything that might help me recover and improve some of the restrictions I have post-treatment. Jamie was pretty confident that my condition could be helped through acupuncture. "And she was right."
With a special interest in helping patients diagnosed with cancer, Rachel is the only acupuncturist in Iowa to complete integrative oncology education with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Last week, Acupuncture in Medicine (published by British Medical Journal | Journals) reported the following article:
December 8, 2011 — Acupuncture may help relieve the severe pain associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), according to the results of a pilot study published in Acupuncture in Medicine.
The major groups of drugs that induce CIPN include the taxanes, vinca alkaloids, and platinum compounds, Sven Schroeder, MD, from the HanseMerkur Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, told Medscape Medical News.
"CIPN involves damage to the peripheral nervous system and can produce severe pain and gait impairment, and is often a reason for stopping chemotherapy with these agents," Dr. Schroeder said.
Data from other studies published in English-language journals on acupuncture as a symptomatic treatment for CIPN have been limited to a few case studies, but they have all reported an improvement in symptoms. Additionally, a Chinese study found that acupuncture was more effective than cobamamide for the treatment of sensory symptoms in paclitaxel-induced CIPN, he said.
"These findings are of special significance since peripheral neuropathy is otherwise almost untreatable, but seems to respond to treatment by acupuncture," Dr. Schroeder said.
In the current study, he and his team evaluated the therapeutic effect of acupuncture on CIPN as measured by changes in nerve conduction studies. The study population consisted of 11 patients who had developed symptoms of peripheral neuropathy during chemotherapy for a variety of cancers.
The acupuncture was performed on all patients by the same physician who had received more than 1000 hours of acupuncture training before participating in the trial and who had used acupuncture for 20 years.
Clinical examination showed that all the patients had a mixture of numbness on touch and nerve pain, and nerve conduction studies showed evidence of damage to the sural nerve.
The study found that acupuncture improved both the speed and the intensity of the nerve signaling in 83% of patients. These same patients also reported that their condition had improved.
"It has been shown that acupuncture may increase the blood flow in the limbs," he said, explaining how acupuncture might work in this condition. "Increased blood flow to the vasa nervorum and dependent capillary beds supplying the neurons may contribute to nerve repair with measurable improvement of axons or myelin sheaths."
His research team is planning a randomized, controlled trial, first in patients with diabetic neuropathy and next among those with CIPN, he said.
An ancient therapy could prove effective at relieving a common side effect of cancer treatment, a new study shows.
According to Randomized controlled trial of acupuncture for prevention of radiation-induced xerostomia among patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Acupuncture was able to reduce dry mouth in people who were receiving radiation therapy to treat their head and neck cancers, reported researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.
Dry mouth, also known as xerostomia, occurs when there is not enough saliva in the mouth.
"The medical implications are quite profound in terms of quality of life, because while chronic dry mouth may sound benign, it has a significant impact on sleeping, eating and speaking," study researcher Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of MD Anderson's Integrative Medicine Program, said in a statement. "Without saliva, there can be an increase in microbial growth, possible bone infection and irreversible nutritional deficits."
Researchers examined 86 people with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were undergoing radiotherapy for their cancer. Forty of the patients received acupuncture three times a week while they received their radiotherapy over seven weeks, while 46 just had regular care.
Researchers monitored the study participants' saliva flow using a Xerostomia Questionnaire -- a score under 30 meant that dry mouth was mild or completely gone.
A month after all the study participants had finished their therapies, researchers found that 54.3 percent of the people who had acupuncture had a Xerostomia Questionnaire score of over 30, while 86.1 percent of people who didn't have acupuncture had a score of over 30.
And then six months after undergoing treatment, researchers found that just 24.1 percent of the people who had acupuncture had a score over 30, while 63.6 percent of the people who didn't had a score of over 30.
Researchers said more studies are needed to see why exactly acupuncture has these benefits.
In 2009, MD Anderson researchers had also found that acupuncture twice a week seemed to relieve dry mouth in cancer patients being treated with radiation therapy, ScienceDaily reported.
Previously, studies have shown that acupuncture can help relieve people experiencing chronic back pain. WebMD reported on a 2009 study showing that acupuncture was actually more effective than physical therapy and drugs at relieving this kind of pain.
If you or someone you love would benefit from these treatments, please contact us. Rachel is the only acupuncturist in Iowa with oncology training from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
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.
The Boston Globe: Joan Woods is finally getting some relief.
In her Winthrop living room, she is silent in her pink, comfy chair. Just moments before, Daria Casinelli, a licensed acupuncturist, inserted 14 needles in Woods’ wrists, feet, and ears to help reduce the pain she feels in her feet and stomach, and to allow the 80-year-old former nurse to breathe easier.
After a few minutes, Woods opens her eyes, smiles, and sighs. “It’s hard to explain what peace this gives me," she says.
For the last four years, Woods has battled cancer with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. A few months ago, doctors told her that the cancer had spread to her lungs. That’s when she decided to stop traditional treatment and enter hospice. In March, the doctors gave her six months to live, so she contacted All Care Hospice, based in Lynn. After explaining her symptoms and diagnosis, the hospice asked if she would be interested in a new program offering treatment from licensed acupuncturists.
Woods, who does not like to take pain medication, had previously seen an acupuncturist to treat her migraines and herniated discs, and remembered the experience as pleasant and calming. “When it was offered to me, I jumped at the chance," she says.
The program — which marks the first time a Massachusetts hospice has offered acupuncture to patients — began in April, after Dr. Lewis Hays, All Care’s medical director, met with officials from a local acupuncture school. As part of its postgraduate program, the school agreed to recruit working acupuncturists to treat hospice patients. Both organizations agreed that the free program had mutual benefits: The acupuncturists earn postgraduate credits and the patients are exposed to a treatment that doesn’t require drugs and can often bring immediate, temporary relief.
“It’s an idea whose time has come, absolutely," says Hays, who believes that acupuncture is effective in treating symptoms that many in hospice face, such as pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, nausea, and vomiting.
While acupuncture has been used for thousands of years in China and neighboring countries to treat pain and other symptoms, it is considered a complementary treatment in the United States, is rarely used in hospitals, and is not covered by most health insurance plans. For acupuncturists like Casinelli, the program already has been a learning experience. In addition to treating hospice patients weekly, she also is part of an interdisciplinary team — including a doctor, nurse, social worker, chaplain, and home health aide — that discusses how to best care for the patient
The International Journal of Clinical Medicine just published a research paper that considers acupuncture treatment to manage the side effects of prostate treatment. We've made the complete article available online for you here. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and are undergoing treatment please call for a consult or to schedule your acupuncture treatments. (Keep in mind that my dad has been a practicing urologist since I was two years old - I feel very comfortable utilizing my skills as an acupuncturist to support complaints for men in particular.)
HealthDay News -- Acupuncture might help reduce the hot flashes that frequently affect prostate cancer patients while they're on hormone therapy, a small study suggests.
"Our study shows that physicians and patients have an additional treatment for something that affects many men undergoing prostate cancer treatment and actually has long-term benefits, as opposed to more side effects," said lead author Dr. Hani Ashamalla, a radiation oncologist at New York Methodist Hospital, in a news release from the American Society for Radiation Oncology.
Acupuncture, a popular form of alternative medicine, involves inserting ultra-thin needles into the skin.
"We are now designing a randomized clinical trial to further evaluate acupuncture after prostate cancer treatment," Ashamalla added.
Hormone therapy designed to reduce levels of testosterone in the body is one of the standard treatments for prostate cancer. However, about half of patients who undergo hormone therapy suffer from hot flashes similar to those that women experience during menopause.
"It is a definite nuisance. I've seen reports that upwards of 60 percent of men will get hot flashes," said Dr. Stephen Freedland, an associate professor of urology and pathology at Duke University, in an interview. "Usually it's mild and self-limiting and improves with time. But there are some men who really have it bad."
In the study, researchers followed 14 men who were taking hormone therapy for prostate cancer and suffered from hot flashes.
They received acupuncture twice a week for 30 minutes over four weeks. Their reported level of hot flashes dropped markedly.
The question is whether the acupuncture reduced the hot flashes or a placebo effect played a role, said Freedland, who's familiar with the study findings.
It's also possible, he said, that the symptoms went away on their own, which commonly happens to men on hormone therapy.
However, "clearly these men described getting better, and it happened over a very short period of time," he said. "The symptoms don't (normally) get better by that much that quickly."
The study, published in the April issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, also found that acupuncture relieved the heart palpitations and anxiety often associated with hormone therapy for prostate cancer. You can download the article, including abstract, from our resources site.
Medscape published an article this week, citing the importance of utilizing only certified acupuncturists trained in oncology care for cancer patients. To date, we are the only acupuncture clinic in Iowa that offers such care. Questions or interested in a session, call us today.
September 17, 2010 — Acupuncture, once deemed a marginal practice despite its long history of use in other parts of the world, has made major inroads into mainstream cancer care in the United States. A list of American cancer centers that offer acupuncture reads like a Who's Who of clinical oncology: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City; the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts; the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston; the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; and the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Industry behemoths like Cancer Treatment Centers of America also now offer acupuncture. Furthermore, community-based acupuncture practices all over the country see cancer patients seeking relief from symptoms such as pain, and treat related adverse effects such as hot flashes and xerostomia, according to an expert in the field. However, acupuncturists working on cancer patients need extra education, said that expert, Barrie Cassileth, PhD, chief of the integrative medicine service at MSKCC. Only acupuncturists trained in cancer should work with cancer patients. "We strongly believe that only acupuncturists trained in cancer should work with cancer patients," said Dr. Cassileth. "Acupuncture schools teach acupuncture for the average patient," she said. "We generally modify acupoints to make them effective and more appropriate for cancer patients," she explained in an interview with Medscape Medical News. For example, the acupoints — which are predetermined places on the body where needles are inserted for therapeutic effect — for hot flashes for normal menopause are "not necessarily the same ones for early menopause due to chemotherapy." Clinicians at MSKCC pioneered this insight, having extensively studied acupuncture for women undergoing treatment-induced menopause, said Dr. Cassileth. MSKCC offers a one-of-a-kind program for acupuncturists who want to become certified cancer care providers. "We have trained thousands of acupuncturists from all over the world," Dr. Cassileth said. For example, she said that clinicians should only refer a patient treated for head and neck cancer to an acupuncturist who has worked with patients with swallowing difficulties and xerostomia, 2 of the most common adverse effects in these patients. Where to Find an Acupuncturist... Only MSKCC has a listing of acupuncturists trained in cancer care, said Dr. Cassileth. For privacy reasons, the list is not public. But clinicians and patients can contact MSKCC's integrative medicine service for a referral. "We get calls all of the time from doctors and patients looking for a cancer-trained acupuncturist, she said. Growing ValidationAcupuncture is for treating adverse effects and symptoms related to cancer and not the disease itself, reminded Dr. Cassileth. Acupuncture works with the idea that energy flows throughout the body along channels, or meridians. Specific acupoints are stimulated with needles to increase energy flow throughout the body to a particular tissue, organ, or organ system, according to a press statement from MSKCC. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 8 million Americans annually are treated with acupuncture for a variety of ailments, including back pain, chronic headaches, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, infertility, and hot flashes. There is no tally on the number of cancer patients receiving such treatments. Still, the validations of acupuncture for the treatment of adverse effects and symptoms related to cancer have been accumulating for some time. Perhaps most notably, in 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a consensus statement endorsing the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. In 2007, a licensed senior acupuncturist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center, Weidong Lu, MPH, became the first integrative therapy practitioner in the United States to receive a 5-year Career Development Award from the NIH. The grant is for studying the benefits of acupuncture on head and neck cancer patients dealing with dysphagia — one of the most vexing adverse effects of any cancer treatment. Practitioners and researchers of acupuncture are now exploring its use for conditions that have established drug treatments. For instance, acupuncture was as effective as the standard drug treatment — venlafaxine (Effexor) — for vasomotor symptoms secondary to long-term antiestrogen hormone therapy in breast cancer patients, according to a recent study reported by Medscape Medical News.
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