Acupuncture as a complementary treatment for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Tas D, Uncu D, Sendur MA, Koca N, Zengin N. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2014;15(7):3139–3144.

Researchers from the Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine Department at the Ministry of Health, in Ankara, Turkey, stated that conventional medical treatment for eliminating the side-effects of cancer therapy may not always be efficacious. Tas et al. stated that acupuncture is one of the most widely accepted alternative and complementary therapies in use today. These researchers investigated the efficacy of acupuncture in patients experiencing cancer treatment side-effects, including nausea, vomiting, pain, poor sleep quality, and anxiety.

A total of 45 patients who underwent chemotherapy between February 2013 and April 2013 in the oncology department of the Numune Hospital were included. Acupuncture was administered to the patients 1 day prior to chemotherapy, on the day of chemotherapy, and 1 day after chemotherapy. The patients were evaluated on the abovementioned side-effects before the chemotherapy and on the fourth day of chemotherapy.

Of the 45 patients in the study, 18 (40%) were female and 27 (60%) were male, and 71% (32) had stage 4 cancer that was treated with palliative chemotherapy. Statistically significant decreases (P<0.001) in pain, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, and anxiety scores on test instruments were observed after the acupuncture treatments, compared to baseline. The researchers stated that there were no differences in the ages, genders, education levels, cancer stages, or metastasis levels between the patient groups whose symptoms were reduced or remained unchanged.

The study showed that acupuncture has positive effects in patients receiving cancer treatment, and who experience nausea, vomiting, pain, poor sleep quality, and anxiety as side-effects of chemotherapy. The researchers therefore concluded that chemotherapy-related side effects in patients with cancer could be decreased by the concurrent use of acupuncture.

Efficacy of Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture versus Traditional Chinese Acupuncture for migraine treatment.

Rezvani M, Yaraghi A, Mohseni M, Fathimoghadam F. J Altern Complement Med. 2014;20(5):371–374.

This article covered the topic of migraine. Researchers from the Department of Anesthesiology at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, in Isfahan, Iran, stated that Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (TCA) is an effective alternative treatment for migraine headache. The aim of this study was to compare the therapeutic effect of Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture (YNSA), a recently developed microacupuncture system, with TCA for prophylaxis and treatment of migraine headache.

In a randomized clinical trial, 80 patients with migraine headache were assigned to receive YNSA or TCA. A pain visual analogue scale (VAS) and migraine-therapy assessment questionnaire (MTAQ) were completed before treatment, after 6 and 18 sessions of treatment, and 1 month after completion of therapy.

All recruited patients completed the study. Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. Frequency and severity of migraine attacks, nausea, need for rescue treatment, and work absence rate decreased similarly in both groups. Recovery from headache and ability to continue daily activities 2 hours after medical treatment showed similar improvement in both groups (P<0.05).

The researchers concluded that TCA and YNSA are similarly effective in the prophylaxis and treatment of migraine headache and may be considered as alternatives to pharmacotherapy.

Mechanisms of acupuncture–electroacupuncture on persistent pain.

Zhang R, Lao L, Ren K, Berman BM. Anesthesiology. 2014;120(2):482–503.

This study was conducted at the Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, in Baltimore, MD, and at the Department of Neural and Pain Sciences, Dental School, University of Maryland, also in Baltimore. In the last decade, preclinical investigations of electroacupuncture (EA) mechanisms on persistent tissue injury (inflammatory), nerve injury (neuropathic), cancer, and visceral pain have increased.

The researchers stated that these studies showed that EA activates the nervous system differently in health than in pain conditions, alleviates both sensory and affective inflammatory pain, and inhibits inflammatory and neuropathic pain more effectively at 2–10 Hz than at 100 Hz. EA blocks pain by activating various bioactive chemicals through peripheral, spinal, and supraspinal mechanisms. These include opioids, which desensitize peripheral nociceptors and reduce proinflammatory cytokines peripherally and in the spinal cord; and serotonin and norepinephrine, which decrease spinal N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunit GluN1 phosphorylation. Zhang et al. stated also that additional studies suggest that EA, when combined with low dosages of conventional analgesics, provides effective pain management that can help prevent the side-effects of often-debilitating pharmaceuticals.

The effect of acupuncture to SP 6 on skin temperature changes of SP 6 and SP 10: an observation of “deqi.”

Yang JM, Shen XY, Zhang L, et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014;2014:595963.

This animal trial concerned Deqi and was conducted at the School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Tuina, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, in Beijing, China. The Deqi sensation is a complex and important component of acupuncture's effects. In this study, the researchers tried to observe the relationship between Deqi and skin-temperature changes and to determine if there was some relationship between Deqi and needle stimulations in a cold, congealing, and dysmenorrhea rat model. Thirty-two female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (saline control group; model group; group A with strong stimulation; and group B with weak stimulation). Groups A and B received different stimulations.

Yang et al. found that, compared with the saline control group, model group, and group B, group A had significantly increased skin-temperature changes on the right acupoints SP 6 and SP 10 at 5–10 minute intervals. The skin-temperature changes on the left SP 6 point decreased at instant 5-min intervals. The skin temperature changes on the right SP 10 point decreased significantly at instant 5-minutes interval and at 10–20 minute intervals. Thermogenic action along the Spleen meridian of the foot's Greater Yin was manifested as simultaneous skin-temperature increases on the right SP 6 and SP10 points at 5–10 minute intervals after needling SP 6, which was helpful for illustrating the relationship between the characteristics of Deqi and needle stimulations.

Systematic review of adverse effects: a further step towards modernization of acupuncture in China

Wu J, Hu Y, Zhu Y, Ping Y, Litscher G, Xu S. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014;2014:432467.

This review was conducted at the 1st Acupuncture Department, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Shanghai, China. As a further step toward modernization of acupuncture, the objective of this review was to determine the frequency and severity of adverse complications and events in acupuncture treatment reported from 1980 to 2013 in China.

The researchers stated that all first-hand case reports of acupuncture-related complications and adverse events that could be identified in the scientific literature were reviewed and classified according to the types of complication and adverse events, circumstances of the events, and long-term patient outcomes.

The case reports that were selected by the reviewers were published between 1980 and 2013 in 3 databases. Relevant articles were collected and analyzed by 2 reviewers. Over the 33 years, 184 incidents were identified in 134 relevant articles. Internal organ, tissue, or nerve injuries are the main complications of acupuncture, especially for pneumothorax and central nervous system injury.

Adverse effects also included syncope, infections, hemorrhage, allergy, burn, aphonia, hysteria, cough, thirst, fever, somnolence, and broken needles.

The reviewers stated that qualifying training of acupuncturists should be systemized and that clinical acupuncture operations should be standardized to prevent the occurrence of acupuncture accidents effectively, enhance the influence of acupuncture, and make acupuncture more popular in the rest of the world.