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Updated: May 14, 2026
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Published on: September 27, 2024
Safety of cupping during bevacizumab therapy
Samuel J Klempner1, Daniel B Costa, Peggy A Wu
1Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA. sklempne@bidmc.harvard.edu
Objectives:
This study reports on the safety of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practice of cupping in a patient undergoing concomitant therapy with bevacizumab for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and raises awareness of the need for improved communication between CAM practitioners and oncologists during the care of patients with cancer. The practice of cupping generates local hyperemia, disrupts superficial vasculature in the dermis, and leads to cutaneous lesions including circular erythema, edema, and subsequently ecchymosis. There are no data on the safety of cupping in patients being treated with bevacizumab.
Design:
This is a single-institution case report.
Settings/Location:
The setting for this study was a tertiary-care academic medical center.
Conclusions:
A patient with advanced NSCLC received four cycles of carboplatin AUC 6, paclitaxel 200 mg/m(2), and bevacizumab 15 mg/kg, and was continued on every-3-week maintenance bevacizumab 15 mg/kg. The patient underwent glass dry cupping during cycle six of maintenance bevacizumab treatment without overt cutaneous adverse events or bleeding. The patient did not realize he should have communicated his cupping plans or recent bevacizumab treatment with his providers.
