Could acupuncture help with the symptoms related to hormone therapy in breast cancer?

The authors aimed to determine if acupuncture could reduce medication-induced hot flashes in patients with breast cancer.

Aromatase inhibitors are a form of hormone therapy used for women with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer (dependent on the hormones estrogen or progesterone for growth). Hot flashes are an extremely common side effect induced by this type of medication.

Several studies have investigated the effect of acupuncture (an alternative therapy that involves very thin needles inserted at specific points of the body) as a treatment to counteract the side effects of breast cancer treatments. Whether or not acupuncture can improve the hot flashes experienced with aromatase inhibitors is unclear.

The aim of this study was to determine whether acupuncture could indeed reduce the side effects cause by hormone therapy. A total of 47 patients were evaluated in this study and were randomly assigned to real (RA) or sham (SA, did not use needles that penetrated the skin) acupuncture.

Patients completed a daily diary noting the number and severity (on a scale of 1-4) of their hot flashes. The severity was averaged over the course of a week. Patients also completed questionnaires to assess levels of depression, sleep, anxiety and overall quality of life. 36 patients reported experiencing hot flashes before starting the study.

Overall, the quality of life (including depression and anxiety) of the patients improved in both acupuncture groups, with no significant difference between the two groups.

After 8 weeks, the average weekly hot flash severity score decreased significantly by 20 points in the RA patients who reported hot flashes at the start of the study. Patients in the SA group saw an average decrease of 5 points. 

African American patients saw the most improvement in hot flash severity following RA compared to other ethnicities. 

The authors concluded that RA and SA improved the overall quality of life of patients with breast cancer.  

This study was the first of its kind and contained a small group of people. 3 patients in the SA group reported increased hot flash severity, which may have affected the results. Further studies with larger groups of patients should be run to determine the benefits of acupuncture. 

If you frequently experience hot flashes, you should consult your doctor about whether acupuncture is a possible treatment option.