Acupuncture in Treating Cancer

Pain can be caused by cancer itself, or by surgery. Rather than just removing the pain signal, acupuncture helps to reduce pain at its source.

Chronic stress can undermine many of the body’s systems, and this is particularly true of the immune system. The problem is often exacerbated by chemotherapy. Sometimes patients are unable to complete their treatment because their immune system has become dangerously weak. Acupuncture has a significant role to play in supporting the immune system of cancer patients, particularly those undergoing chemotherapy. Many studies have confirmed that acupuncture can regulate the immune system and promote the activities of humoral and cellular immunity as well as NK cell activity. It can also help reverse reduction in immune cells caused by anxiety.

Breathlessness is a common problem in lung cancer, as well as in patients where the cancer has spread to the lymphatic system. Several studies have suggested that acupuncture can help to improve lung function and also help the patients feel better in themselves.

The salivary glands may be damaged following radiation, resulting in a lack of salivation and a very dry mouth. The Radiation Oncology Service of the National Medical Centre, San Diego, California, has been developing acupuncture techniques to treat this problem. They found a statistically significant improvement occurred, and still effective even six months after the treatment had been completed.

Acupuncture can effective reduce both nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and surgery. One study looking into the possible mechanisms found acupuncture induced “gastric myoelectrical activity, vagal modulation and cerebellar vestibular activities”. In other words, the electrical activity of the stomach and the brain was stimulated by acupuncture.

According to TCM hot flash is a sign of depletion of kidney yin which may be caused by cancer itself or medications such as Tamoxifen in treating breast cancer. One study found acupuncture to be as effective at reducing hot flashes as estradol (the drug generally used in hormone replacement therapy) without causing the detrimental side effects of the drug.

Surgery often leaves patients feeling weak, and can cause a range of other complication. Acupuncture can be used to prepare patients for surgery, and also to help them recover from it. In one study patients in acupuncture group reported significantly lower level of pain, and “consumption of intravenous morphine was reduced 50 per cent, and the incidence of postoperative nausea was reduced by 20-30 per cent”. Another study of patients undergone breast cancer surgery reported acupuncture improved the range of motion of the shoulder, as well as reducing tightness and heaviness in the arm, and reducing symptoms of lymph oedema.