The use of acupuncture in radiation-induced complications among cancer patients

Abstract

Background: Radiation-induced complications commonly occur among patients who receive radiation therapy. Various research reports that acupuncture treatment significantly reduces radiation-induced complications experienced by patients undergoing radiation therapy. However, there is a lack of review on the use of acupuncture in the treatment of radiation-induced complications among cancer patients. Aim: The aim of this study was to conduct a narrative review on the use of acupuncture in the treatment of radiation-induced complications among cancer patients. Methodology: A narrative review was conducted using extensive databases including PubMed, EBSCO host, and Science Direct. Studies included in this review had to meet inclusion criteria based on the date of publication and relevance to acupuncture in treatment for radiation-induced complications. A total of 16 studies met the inclusion criteria for this narrative review on the radiation-induced side-effects, which included mucositis (n= 3), stomatitis (n= 1), xerostomia (n= 6), nausea and emesis (n= 3), and dysphagia (n=3), treated with acupuncture. Results: Studies observing acupuncture in the treatment of stomatitis, mucositis and xerostomia all showed positive results with significant improvement experienced in patients treated with acupuncture compared to those treated with sham-acupuncture and control groups, with one study for mucositis using a combined therapy of acupuncture and cooling herbs. Studies included for nausea and emesis demonstrated mixed results of no improvement (n= 2) and improvement (n= 1). Conclusion: Acupuncture demonstrates a significant ability to reduce the severity of common radiation-induced complications caused by radiation therapy among some cancer patients. This study was limited to the small sample size due to the limited research on this topic. More studies on the use of acupuncture treatment to reduce radiation-induced complications among other cancer patients are recommended to strengthen the evidence.