Can acupuncture improve fatigue during cancer treatment?

This study looked at whether acupuncture could improve cancer related fatigue for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The authors concluded that acupuncture is safe and may be beneficial at improving fatigue in these patients during their treatment regimes.

Fatigue is one of the most common side effects of cancer. This type of tiredness is not relieved by sleep and can negatively affect patients’ social life, daily activities, work, appetite and emotional state. As the exact cause of fatigue is unknown, it is difficult for practitioners to treat.

Acupuncture is a type of traditional Chinese alternative medicine where thin needles are inserted into the body. This may be beneficial at reducing fatigue in cancer patients.

This study looked at whether acupuncture was effective at improving fatigue in patients with NSCLC. The study included 28 NSCLC patients who were being treated with either radiation or chemotherapy. 14 of these patients received acupuncture while 14 received placebo treatment (treatment with no active effect).

Fatigue was measured using two scoring tests, a functional assessment of cancer therapy-lung cancer subscale (FACT-LCS) score and brief fatigue inventory (BFI-C) score. These scores measure health related quality of life and are based on patient reported questionnaires.

At the beginning of the trial both FACT-LCS and BFI-C scores were similar. By week 2, patients who received acupuncture had improved FACT-LCS and BFI-C compared to pre-trial scores and compared to the placebo group. These improvements continued until the end of the trial for the acupuncture group.

Side effects were similar between both groups of patients. 28.6% of patients had mild pain, 14.3% of patients had dizziness and 7.1% had bleeding. There were no severe treatment related side effects.

The authors concluded that acupuncture may be beneficial for improving cancer related fatigue.