Acupuncture for patients with Cancer in a Japanese palliative care team: A prospective case series study

The joint guidelines of the Society for Integrative Oncology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend acupuncture for pain symptoms in some patients with cancer. This study assessed whether adding acupuncture to usual palliative care alleviates the subjective symptoms of hospitalized patients with cancer in Japan, at least in the short term.

Between 2015 and 2019, we conducted a prospective case series study at a regional core hospital in Osaka. Acupuncture was included in the usual care of patients with cancer. The primary outcome was immediate changes in each patient's subjective symptoms measured by a 10 cm visual analog scale (VAS). A 20 % reduction in VAS was set as the minimal clinically important difference (MCID).

A total of 83 cancer patients (mean age: 66.1) were treated with acupuncture. A significant reduction was observed in the VAS scores for pain, edema, nausea, neck/shoulder/back stiffness, and breathlessness during at least one treatment session. The percentage of patients that improved beyond the MCID was as follows: 67 % for pain, 75 % for edema, 60 % for paresthesia, 80 % for nausea, 88 % for stiffness, 38 % for malaise, and 83 % for breathlessness, based on the maximum improvement recorded per session.

Japanese-style acupuncture, with relatively finer needles and gentler stimulation, has shown promise as a palliative treatment for patients with cancer, potentially offering temporary relief from pain, edema, nausea, stiffness, and breathlessness. Based on our findings, a pragmatic randomized controlled trial with an appropriate control group is recommended.