Acupuncture

BACKGROUND: Oxaliplatin is frequently used in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. However, peripheral neuropathy is a severe adverse effect of oxaliplatin that may persist and impact quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the potential effects of ultrasound acupuncture for the alleviation of symptoms related to oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OIPN) among metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

DESIGN: A prospective cohort pilot study.

SETTING: Education and research hospital.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients with a diagnosis of stages II-IV colorectal cancer treated with oxaliplatin-based treatment regimens and with the presence of OIPN symptoms (n = 17).

INTERVENTIONS: Pulsed therapeutic ultrasound (1 MHz) at bilateral acupuncture points of PC6, PC7, BL60 and KI1 were administered for 5 min/point daily for 12 d.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain Quality Assessment Scale (PQAS), Chemotherapy-induced Neurotoxicity Questionnaire (CINQ), quantitative touch-detection threshold, cold-trigger pain withdrawal latency and quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30) were measured at baseline (day 0), pre-intervention (day 12, post wash-out period), post-intervention (day 24) and final follow-up (day 54). A P values of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: Scores of PQAS and CINQ significantly improved post ultrasound acupuncture at post-intervention and follow up compare to both base-line and pre-intervention. Similar trends were also observed for the Quantitative Sensory Testing where touch-detection threshold significantly decreased and cold-trigger pain withdrawal latency significantly increased post ultrasound acupuncture. Patients also showed an improvement on Quality of Life outcomes as measured by QLQ-C30 post-intervention and at follow up.

CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound acupuncture could potentially be an effective intervention for OIPN symptoms for colorectal cancer patients. However, larger and randomized clinical trials with placebo controls are needed to confirm such effect. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.