Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 511–2
To summarise the existing evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in the relief of cancer-related pain.
A systematic literature search for controlled and uncontrolled trials of manual acupuncture, ear acupuncture and electro-acupuncture for the relief of cancer-related pain was conducted on eight databases. Data were extracted according to predefined criteria by two independent reviewers and methodological quality was assessed using the Jadad score.
One randomised controlled trial (RCT) and four uncontrolled trials were identified. The only RCT using manual acupuncture had relatively poor methodological quality in terms of adequate randomisation and blinding. However, none of these limitations would conceivably increase the risk of a false negative result. Its result for acupuncture treatment for cancer-related pain was negative compared with conventional analgesics. Another uncontrolled trial of manual acupuncture also failed to show significant difference in pre- and post-measurements of VAS. The other three uncontrolled trials using manual acupuncture, ear acupuncture and electro-acupuncture reported significant pain relief.
Owing to the poor methodological quality and the design of the identified studies, it is difficult to evaluate the effect of acupuncture for the relief of cancer-related pain. The methodologically best study fails to show a positive effect. Rigorously designed trials of acupuncture are required before its place in the pain management of cancer patients can be defined.
