Treatment of Hot Flushes in Breat Cancer Patience with Acupuncture
A common treatment for post-menopausal hot flushes is to raise oestrogen levels with hormone replacement therapy. However, this option in not considered suitable for breast cancer patients with hormone sensitive carcinoma, since an increase in oestrogen is contraindicated. This leaves little as an effective conventional therapy.
There has been some evidence that acupuncture is a suitable treatment for hot flushes, so a serial of 22 consecutive breast cancer patients referred by an oncologist for treatment of hot flushes were given a course of classical body acupuncture with two 20-30min treatment sessions per week for up to 7 weeks. The frequency of recorded hot flushes (both day and night) improved significantly (p<0.001) by the end of treatment. All patients claimed some benefit and 82% had effective relief.
--- Acupuncture in Medicine, June 2000 Vol. 18(1)
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Acupncture for Side Effects of Chemoradiation Therapy in Cancer Patients
Objective
To review strategies and recommendations to improve utilization of acupuncture treatment of side effects of chemoradiation therapy in cancer centers.
Data Sources
Research studies and articles, government reports, and other experience.
Conclusions:
Recent evidence is clinical research indicates that acupuncture s beneficial for chemotherapy-induces nausea, vomiting and cancer paid. Other preliminary data also suggests acupuncture might be affective for chemotherapy-induced leukopenia, postchemotherapy fatigue, radiation therapy-induces xerostomia, insomnia and anxiety.
--- Seminars in Oncology Nursing, Vol 21, No 3 (August) 2005 pp190-195
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Influence of Acupuncture on Duration of Labor
The aim of this case control study was to evaluate the thus far controversially discussed influence of acupuncture (AP) on the duration of labor. Fifty-seven women with AP treatment (group A0 were included in our study after spontaneous vaginal full-term delivery. The control group included 63 women (group B(. Median duration of the first stage of label was 196 min in group A and 321 min in group B (Wilcoxon 20sample test, P<0.0001)/ Median duration of second stage labor was 57 minutes in group A and 57 min in group B (Wilcoxon 20sample test, P=0.82). Thirty women had premature rupture of the membranes (PROM), in group A 66.7% and in group B 33.3% (X2 test, p=0.02). Women without AP (group B) received significantly more often oxytocin during the first stage of label with group A women (85% and 15%, receptively, X2 test, p=0.01) as well as during second stage of label (72 and 28% respectively, X2 test, P=0.03). Our study suggests that AP treatment is a recommendable form of childbirth preparation due to its positive effect on the duration of label, namely by shortening the first stage of labor.
--- Gynecologic Obstetric Investigation 1998; 46:22-25
Acupuncture treatment improves nerve conduction in peripheral neuropathy
The etiology of peripheral neuropathy (PN) often remains elusive resulting in a lack of objective therapeutic strategies. We conducted a pilot study to evaluate the therapeutic effect of acupuncture on PN as measured by changes in nerve conduction and assessment of subjective symptoms. One hundred and ninety-two consecutive patients with PN as diagnosed by conduction studies (NCS) were evaluated over a period of 1 year. Of 47 patients who met the criteria for PN of undefined etiology, 21 patients received acupuncture therapy according to classical Chinese Medicine as define by the Heidelberg Model, while 26 patients received the best medical care but no specific treatment for PN. Sixteen patients (76%) in the acupuncture group improved symptomatically and objectively as measured by NCS, while only four patients in the control group (15%) did so. Three patients in the acupuncture group (14%) showed no change and two patients an aggravation (10%), whereas in the control group seven showed no change (27%) and 15 an aggravation (58%). Importantly, subjective improvement was fully correlated with improvement in NCS in both groups. The data suggest that there is a positive effect of acupuncture on PM of undefined etiology as measured by objective parameters.
--- European Jounal of Neurology 2007, 14:276-281
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