Frisk, J., Källström, A. C., Wall, N., Fredrikson, M., & Hammar, M. (2012). Acupuncture improves health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) and sleep in women with breast cancer and hot flushes. Supportive Care in Cancer, 20, 715–724.

To evaluate the effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA) and hormone therapy (HT) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and sleep in breast cancer survivors with vasomotor symptoms.

Women who had completed treatment for breast cancer were randomized to receive EA for 12 weeks or HT for 24 months. They completed the Psychological and General Wellbeing Index (PGWI) and Women’s Health Questionnaire (WHQ) pretreatment for vasomotor symptoms; during treatment; and at 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months after the start of treatment.

• The sample was comprised of 18 female patients.  
• Mean age was 54.1 years (range 47–69). 
• Patients had completed treatment for breast cancer in situ for a T1 or T2 tumor with a maximum of four metastatic lymph nodes or T3 tumors without metastatic lymph nodes.
• Patients also had:
  • Vasomotor symptoms 
  • Been seen by a breast surgeon or oncologist within the last three months and were not receiving active treatment for breast cancer  
  • No clinical or mammographic signs of recurrence.

Women were excluded if they were receiving ongoing breast cancer treatment other than tamoxifen; had other malignancies; or had a history of thromboembolic, cereverbrovascular, or liver disease; porphyria; or active cardiovascular disease.

• Multisite   
• Outpatient
• Sweden

• Patients were undergoing the long-term follow-up phase of care.
• The study has clinical applicability for late effects and survivorship and elderly care.

The study was a multicenter, randomized, prospective trial.

• WHQ
• PGWI
• Log books for hot flushes and for sleep data, specifically the number of hours slept and times woken

Nineteen women completed 12 weeks of EA. Eleven women were excluded due to changes in treatment. About 40% of the patients had no other treatment. The HT group had 11 women complete the 24 months of treatment. In both groups, reduction of hot flushes was noted. The EA group had a decrease in the median number of flushes/24 hours of 55% (p < 0.001) after 12 weeks. The decrease was 29% (p = 0.026) after 24 months. In the HT group, the median number of hot flushes/24 hours decreased by 100% (p = 0.001) after 12 weeks of treatment with no further changes. Sleep parameters improved significantly in both groups from baseline, with a WHQ sleep score in the EA group at baseline of 0.50 and at 24 months 0.33; in the HT group, the baseline score of 0.33 to declined 0.00 at 24 months.

The study showed improvement in sleep scores of both groups up to 21 months. The numbers of hours slept per night did not increase, but the numbers of flushes and distress caused by them decreased, resulting in fewer times woken, with overall improvement in HRQoL. Both groups also showed a significant decrease in the number of HF experienced, which was maintained up to 21 months after treatment was stopped.

EA, compared to HT for management of hot flashes in breast cancer survivors, shows some potential benefit in reducing numbers of hot flashes/24 hours, improving overall WHQ scores.

• The study had a small sample size, with less than 30 patients.
• There was a high number of drop-outs in EA group.

HT is not recommended as a safe treatment for vasomotor symptoms for breast cancer survivors. Thus, the value of using that group to compare with a group that received EA is of concern. EA needs further investigation in larger sample sizes. Further research is needed for efficacy of EA in hot flash management for breast cancer survivors and in women treated with aromatase inhibitors experiencing hot flash distress, as this study did not address that phenomenon.