Inpatient Acupuncture at a Major Cancer Center

Use of complementary and integrative therapies is increasing among cancer patients, but data regarding the impact treatments such as acupuncture have in an inpatient oncology setting are limited.

Patients who received acupuncture in an inpatient hospital environment between December 2014 and December 2015 were asked to complete a modified Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS; 0-10 scale) before and after each visit. Pre- and post-treatment scores were examined for each symptom using paired t tests.

A total of 172 inpatients were treated with acupuncture in their hospital beds (257 visits). Thirty percent (n = 51) received at least one additional follow-up treatment (mean visits/patient = 1.5). Completion rate of the modified ESAS after acupuncture was 42%. The most common reasons for not completing the post-treatment ESAS were "patient too drowsy" or "patient fell asleep" (72%). For patients who reported a baseline symptom score ≥1, the greatest improvements (mean change ± SD) after acupuncture on the initial visit were found for pain (-1.8 ± 2.2; n = 69; P < .0001), nausea (-1.2 ± 1.9; n = 30; P < .001), anxiety (-0.8 ± 1.8; n = 36; P = .01), drowsiness (-0.6 ± 1.8; n = 57; P = .02), and fatigue (-0.4 ± 1.1; n = 67; P = .008). For patients who received at least one follow-up visit, significant improvement from baseline was found for sleep disturbance (-2.5 ± 4.4; n = 17; P = .03), anxiety (-2.4 ± 1.7; n = 9; P = .002), pain (-2.3 ± 2.7; n = 20; P = .001), and drowsiness (-2.0 ± 2.6; n = 16; P = .008).

Patients who received inpatient acupuncture at a major cancer center experienced significant improvement after treatment for pain, sleep disturbance, anxiety, drowsiness, nausea, and fatigue.