Chuna Manual Therapy or Electroacupuncture with Pregabalin for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Neurology
• Integrative Medicine

Background:

• Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common, debilitating side effect of cancer treatment with limited effective therapies.
• Growing interest exists in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for managing CIPN symptoms alongside conventional treatments like pregabalin.
• Chuna manual therapy (CMT), a traditional Korean therapy, is explored as a potential CAM intervention for CIPN.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness and safety of pregabalin (PG) monotherapy versus PG combined with electroacupuncture (EA) or CMT for treating CIPN.
• To assess the feasibility of conducting larger-scale clinical studies on these combined treatment approaches for CIPN.

Main Methods:

• A study involving 74 patients with CIPN from breast and colorectal cancers was conducted.
• Patients were assigned to three groups: PG only, PG + EA, or PG + CMT for five weeks with a four-week follow-up.
• The primary outcome was measured by the change in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity (FACT/GOG-Ntx) score from baseline.

Main Results:

• The PG + CMT group exhibited the largest mean difference in FACT/GOG-Ntx scores (-16.64) compared to baseline, followed by the PG group (-8.60) and PG + EA group (-6.73).
• These differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.2075), indicating no conclusive evidence of superior efficacy for the combined treatments over pregabalin alone.
• Adverse events were minimal and similar across groups, with two reported in the PG + CMT group (bruise, headache).

Conclusions:

• While not statistically significant, the combination of pregabalin with Chuna manual therapy showed a trend towards greater improvement in CIPN symptoms.
• Low patient attrition and high adherence rates across all groups suggest good tolerability and feasibility for larger clinical trials.
• Further research with larger sample sizes is warranted to definitively evaluate the efficacy and safety of CMT and EA as adjuncts to pregabalin for CIPN management.