Acupuncture May Prevent Some Cases of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting

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Acupuncture May Prevent Some Cases of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting

CancerConsultants
October 04, 2005

According to a review published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, certain types of acupuncture-point stimulation may relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting, but few well-designed studies have been conducted.

Chemotherapy is often difficult for cancer patients due to severe nausea and vomiting. Despite significant progress over the past decade in controlling chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), more than half of all patients receiving chemotherapy still suffer from these side effects. Furthermore, nausea may persist when vomiting is controlled. These symptoms can be severely debilitating and often lead patients to refuse further courses of chemotherapy. This minimizes chances for an optimal outcome. CINV can either be acute (occurring within the first 24 hours after chemotherapy), delayed (occurring more than 24 hours after chemotherapy), or both. Delayed nausea and vomiting is more common than acute nausea and vomiting.

CINV can often be controlled through the use of antiemetic medications, but there is also interest in exploring alternative therapies such as acupuncture. The acupuncture point thought to be associated with relief of nausea is P6, which is located on the wrist. This point can be stimulated through a variety of methods, including manual acupuncture (insertion of needles), electroacupuncture (passing electric current through the inserted needle), noninvasive electrostimulation (application of electric current without a needle), or acupressure (pressure applied by the fingers or an elastic wristband).

In order to summarize what is known about the effects of these methods on relief of CINV, researchers combined data from 11 published clinical trials. These studies involved a total of 1,247 patients and used a variety of methods for acupuncture-point stimulation. For all methods combined, there was some evidence of a reduced risk of acute vomiting. Specific methods performed as follows:

Electroacupuncture appeared to have the greatest effect on vomiting.
Acupressure appeared to have the greatest effect on nausea.
Noninvasive electrostimulation did not appear to provide a benefit.

Although this review describes possible benefits of acupuncture-point stimulation for CINV, it’s still unclear whether these methods will improve outcomes among patients who are treated with current antiemetic medications. There’s also little information available about the use of acupuncture-point stimulation for delayed CINV. Fortunately, an increasing number of well-designed studies are focusing on complementary and alternative therapies. More thorough information about the role of acupuncture in the prevention of CINV and other symptoms should be forthcoming.

Reference: Ezzo J, Vickers A, Richardson MA et al. Acupuncture-point stimulation for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Journal of Clinical Oncology . 2005;23:7188-7198.