Tas, D., Uncu, D., Sendur, M.A., Koca, N., & Zengin, N. (2014). Acupuncture as a complementary treatment for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 15, 3139–3144.

To investigate the effects of acupuncture on nausea, vomiting, pain, sleep quality, and anxiety in patients who were hospitalized or undergoing chemotherapy

Acupuncture was given for three days. On the day of hospitalization and after three days, study assessments were completed. Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) was not measured in patients receiving chemotherapy for the first time.

• N = 45
• MEAN AGE = 50.5 years (SD = 13.3 years)
• MALES: 60%, FEMALES: 40%
• KEY DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Multiple tumor types; 71% were receiving palliative chemotherapy; 29% were receiving adjuvant chemotherapy
• OTHER KEY SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS: 70% received primary school or less education

• SITE: Single site    
• SETTING TYPE: Inpatient    
• LOCATION: Turkey

• PHASE OF CARE: Multiple phases of care
• APPLICATIONS: Palliative care

• Quasi-experimental

• Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain
• Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)
• Nausea and vomiting were measured according to oral intake and graded on a 0–4 scale.
• Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)

The sign test was used to show the pre- and post-treatment significance of differences, and these were shown for all symptoms (p < 0.001). However, the pretreatment score for insomnia was equal to one before and after treatment, and a larger proportion of patients did not improve (57.8%) than improved (42.2%) in terms of sleep quality. In other symptoms, the percentage that improved was similar to the percentage that did not improve. The intervention group appeared to have the greatest number of patients whose nausea improved.

Acupuncture may be a useful adjunctive therapy for the management of pain, CINV, anxiety, and insomnia in hospitalized patients receiving chemotherapy. The design of this study limits the strength of its findings.

• Small sample (< 100)
• Risk of bias (no control group)
• Risk of bias (no blinding)
• Risk of bias (no random assignment)
• Unintended interventions or applicable interventions not described that would influence results
• Other limitations/explanation: No information was provided regarding the use of other interventions such as medications for any of the symptoms examined. Baseline symptom levels were not reported in all cases.

Acupuncture is a complementary therapy that may be beneficial as an adjunct treatment for symptom management in patients with cancer. This individual study has multiple limitations, and additional evidence is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture.