Genç, A., Can, G., & Aydiner, A. (2012). The efficiency of the acupressure in prevention of the chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Supportive Care in Cancer, 21, 253–261.

To examine the efficiency of acupressure in controlling chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and to determine the factors that affect this efficiency

Turkish researchers recruited patients with lung, breast, and gynecological cancer who were undergoing active treatment with medicines such as doxorubicin- or cisplatin-based drugs. The researchers randomized and assigned 67 patients in the experimental group and 53 patients in the control group. The experimental group was given a real nausea wristband (Sea-Band), and the control group was given a placebo nausea band. All patients in both groups also were given standard antiemetic treatment. They were instructed to use the wristband on both of their wrists for five days, except when sleeping at night, washing their hands, and taking a shower.

• The study reported on 120 patients.
• Mean age was 55.11 years in the experimental group and 52.73 years in the control group.
• The sample was 50.8 male and 49.2 female.
• Cancer diagnoses were breast-gynecology (experimental group: n = 40 [59.7%], control group: n = 34 [64.2%]) and lung cancer (experimental group: n = 27 [40.3%], control group: n = 19 [35%]).
• Other key sample characteristics included the use of the following regimens.
  • Adriamycin-cyclophosphamide (experimental group: n = 12, control group: n = 4)
  • Cisplatin–etoposide (experimental group: n = 12, control group: n = 15)
  • Cisplatin–docetaxel (experimental group: n= 10, control group, n = 9)
  • Cisplatin–alimta/camptosar (experimental group: n = 5, control group: n = 5)
  • Cisplatin–gemcitabine (experimental group: n = 13, control group: n = 8)
  • 5 fluorouracil–adriamycin–cyclophosphamide/5 fluorouracil–epirubicin–cyclophosphamide (experimental group: n = 8, control group: n = 9)
  • Taxotere–adriamycin–cyclophosphamide (experimental group: n = 7, control group: n = 3)
  • Anthracycline-based (experimental group: n = 27, control group: n = 16)
  • Cisplatin-based (experimental group: n = 40, control group: n = 37)

The study was conducted at a single site in Turkey. The setting type was not specified.

Patients were undergoing the active treatment phase of care.

The study was a cross-sectional, single blinded study.

The researchers stated that they created a patient description form to collect the demographic information, chemotherapy medications, and characteristics of the condition of the patients. They also used two measurements. 

• The first was the Rhodes Index of Nausea Vomiting and Retching (INVR) scale, of which validity and reliability were confirmed in another Turkish study. Patients were asked to complete the INVR scale for five consecutive days. They rated their nausea and vomiting on a 0–4 scale, with a high score indicating a severe complaint.
• The second was the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), which is a quality-of-life scale. They completed the FACT-G quality-of-life scale on the fifth day only. A high score in this scale indicates a high quality of life.

The researchers investigated whether acupressure affected the patients’ quality of life, as well as their experiences and development of nausea, vomiting, and retching. After five days of treatment, the results indicated that no statistically meaningful difference was observed between the control and experimental groups. Therefore, real acupressure application was not an effective strategy to increase the quality of life or to decrease the experience of CINV.

The statistical results show that after five days, both experimental and control groups had almost identical scores. Therefore, the real nausea wristband does not affect CINV or the quality of life.

The study shows that wristband acupressure is not effective in controlling CINV in patients with cancer. Additional studies are needed to confirm or refute this conclusion. Acupressure may need to be organ-site specific to control CINV.