Integrative Approaches to Minimize Peri-operative Symptoms

Cancer patients who require surgery often experience peri-operative symptoms, including nausea, anxiety, and pain, which can significantly impair quality of life. Here, we review the evidence for using integrative approaches to manage these peri-operative symptoms.

Conventional peri-operative pharmacologic interventions, such as opiates for pain control, can lead to adverse effects such as respiratory depression, prolonged hospital course, and long-term dependence. Integrative medicine, also known as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), has been explored as way to reduce peri-operative symptoms. Acupuncture, guided imagery, and loving-kindness meditation have all shown potential efficacy in reducing both peri-operative pain and anxiety in retrospective studies and small randomized controlled trials. Integrative medicine techniques, such as acupuncture, are a promising approach to control peri-operative symptoms without the associated adverse effects of more conventional pharmacologic interventions.