Insights & Discussion
Acupuncture and/or acupressure was significantly associated with reduced cancer pain and decreased use of analgesics.
This study found a moderate level of evidence that acupuncture and/or acupressure was significantly associated with lower pain intensity in patients with cancer compared with a sham control, which suggests a potential for a combination of acupuncture and acupressure to help reduce opioid doses in patients with cancer.
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Consuming chocolate with higher cocoa content can improve the nutritional status and functionality of older cancer patients in palliative care.
2022 BMC Palliative Care Effect of chocolate on older patients with cancer in palliative care: a randomised controlled study Vettori JC, da-Silva LG, Pfrimer K, Jordão AA, Louzada-Junior P, Moriguti JC, et al.
Clinical Study Cancer Chocolate Palliative Care
In the conducted study, 46 older cancer patients under palliative care were divided into three groups. The control group did not have a change in their diet (CG, 15 patients). The other two groups were given intervention foods—55% cocoa chocolate (IG1, 16 patients) and white chocolate (IG2, 15 patients)—for a duration of four weeks. The primary outcome was assessed based on changes in the patients' nutritional status, as measured by the Mini Nutritional Assessment tool. Other factors examined included food consumption, body measurements, body composition, laboratory parameters, and quality of life, using the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer instrument.
Discussion of the results revealed that the group consuming 55% cocoa chocolate showed an improvement in nutritional scores and functionality, as evidenced by the Mini Nutritional Assessment and the quality of life scores respectively. On the other hand, the group consuming white chocolate displayed decreased oxidative stress levels. However, body composition and anthropometric measurements remained largely unchanged across all three groups.
Traditional Chinese Medicine when combined with Western methods, could improve survival rates in patients with colorectal cancer.
2020 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Integrated Chinese Herbal Medicine and Western Medicine on the Survival in Patients with Colorectal Cancer: A Retrospective Study of Medical Records Yeh MH, Chiu HP, Wu MC, Koo M, Lin NW, Liao KK, et al.
Cohort Study Colorectal Cancer
The study undertook a retrospective analysis of patients, newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer during 2004-2014, who were treated at Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital. With the help of the hospital's cancer registry database and medical records, patients were categorized into two groups: those who used Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) and those who did not. Survival rates between these groups were investigated with Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses.
The research findings indicated a noticeable difference between the survival rates of the CHM users and the non-users. Furthermore, four specific CHM formulae - Jia Wei Xiao Yao San, Zhi Bah Di Huang Wan, Ping Wei San and Qui Pi Tang - were noted as significantly associated with enhanced survival. Therefore, it seems that integrating Chinese Herbal Medicine with Western treatment protocols could enhance survival in patients afflicted with colorectal cancer.
Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan can potentially alleviate symptoms of cancer-related insomnia similarly to cognitive-behavioral therapy.
2020 Integrative Cancer Therapies Comparative Effectiveness of Cheonwangbosimdan (Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan) Versus Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Cancer Patients: A Randomized, Controlled, Open-Label, Parallel-Group, Pilot Trial Moon SY, Jerng UM, Kwon OJ, Jung SY, Lee JY, Yoon SW, et al.
Clinical Study Insomnia Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan
In this study, 22 participants were divided equally between a group given Cheonwangbosimdan and a control group who received cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia. Participants in the Cheonwangbosimdan group were required to consume the herbal liquid daily and participate in weekly visits for a period of four weeks. Conversely, the control group underwent behavioral therapy sessions 4 times over the same four-week period.
The outcomes from these interventions were evaluated using key indices that measured participants' insomnia severity, sleep quality, fatigue, anxiety, and overall performance status. With the focus being on changes observed from the inception of the trial to the end, these measurements were taken at the conclusion of the fifth week. While no significant difference was found between the two study groups, both displayed a positive trend towards alleviating the symptoms of cancer-related insomnia, with anxiety levels markedly lower in the treatment group.
Acupuncture intervention could significantly improve the treatment outcomes for breast cancer-related lymphedema, regardless of the control treatments used.
2019 Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research Acupuncture therapy for breast cancer‐related lymphedema: A systematic review and meta‐analysis Hou W, Pei L, Song Y, Wu J, Geng H, Chen L, et al.
Systematic Review Breast Cancer Lymphoedema
The methodology of this study began with a detailed survey of public databases, including China Academic Journals Full-text Database, Database of Chinese Sci-Tech Journal, Wanfang, PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library, and focused on looking for randomized controlled trials related to the use of acupuncture for the treatment of breast cancer-related lymphedema. Clinical trials on the treatment of this condition, where acupuncture was used in conjunction with drugs or functional exercise, were singled out for inclusion in the study. The assessment of any potential risk of bias and quality was performed by two investigators using Cochrane Handbook standard, accompanied by meta-analysis with the help of Revman software.
As for the discussion of the results, the study comprised 13 different studies, enrolling a total of 747 patients. Analysis of these enrolled studies revealed that the use of acupuncture intervention showed an increase in success rate in treating breast cancer-related lymphedema. This was evidenced by an observed improvement in the subjective pain, discomfort, and upper limb swelling in patients who received acupuncture therapy, irrespective of the control intervention used. However, it was mentioned that the majority of the studies used in the assessment contained inconsistent efficacy indicators.
Acupuncture has been presented as an effective intervention for reducing limb oedema in women post breast cancer surgery.
2019 Acupuncture in Medicine Effects of acupuncture on breast cancer-related lymphoedema: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials Zhang X, Wang X, Zhang B, Yang S, Liu D.
Systematic Review Breast Cancer
The methodology involved a broad electronic search through six databases for research papers published till November 2017. Only randomized controlled trials focused on the use of acupuncture for breast cancer-related lymphedema were included in the process. Ultimately, six trials, involving a cumulative total of 318 patients, were identified for evaluation. The main outcomes looked at were the pre/post-treatment differences in the diameter of the elbow joint, reductions in upper limb lymphedema and effectiveness index based on arm measurement data in patients with breast cancer.
The analysis of results revealed an overall positive effect of acupuncture intervention on the parameters examined. Two of the studies observed a significant reduction in elbow joint diameter and upper limb lymphedema in the acupuncture groups. Another two studies noted a marked difference in the effectiveness index based on arm measurements between the acupuncture and control groups, favoring the former. The fifth study used bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy and reported a significant reduction in lymphedema. The sixth study, however, did not report any significant difference in bioimpedance between the groups. Overall the results suggest that acupuncture could be an effective method for managing limb oedema in patients post breast cancer treatment.
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