Acupuncture compared with placebo acupuncture in radiotherapy-induced nausea--a randomized controlled study

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Integrative Medicine
• Palliative Care

Background:

• Radiotherapy often causes nausea and vomiting (emesis) in cancer patients.
• The effectiveness of verum (real) acupuncture for managing this side effect is not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if verum acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture in reducing nausea and vomiting during radiotherapy.

Main Methods:

• A randomized, blinded study involving 215 cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.
• Patients received either verum acupuncture (penetrating, 'deqi' sensation) or sham acupuncture (non-penetrating needles) multiple times weekly.
• Daily patient-reported documentation of emesis and nausea episodes was the primary outcome measure.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in the incidence of nausea between verum (70%) and sham (62%) acupuncture groups.
• Vomiting and antiemetic drug use were similar between groups.
• A high percentage of patients in both groups (95% verum, 96% sham) believed their treatment was effective for nausea, with many reporting benefits like relaxation and mood improvement.

Conclusions:

• Verum acupuncture, characterized by 'deqi' sensation, did not demonstrate superior efficacy over sham acupuncture for radiotherapy-induced nausea.
• Despite the lack of statistically significant difference, a strong patient-reported perception of treatment effectiveness and satisfaction was observed in both verum and sham acupuncture groups.