Tag: electroacupuncture

Categories : CancerTags :

How Well Do Acupuncture and Acupressure Help Cancer Patients to Sleep?

On By ModernMedia
Source: Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Acupuncture and acupressure (which stimulates pressure points without the invasive needles) have been suggested as ways to help reduce sleep disturbance in patients with cancer. A recent analysis published in Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing finds moderate evidence that acupressure and acupuncture may be effective, with acupressure having a greater effect.

Researchers included 24 randomised controlled trials involving 2002 patients in the analysis. Compared with enhanced supportive care, acupressure had the largest effect size for reducing self-reported sleep disturbance (standardised mean difference [SMD] = −2.67, 95% CrI: −3.46 to −1.90; GRADE = moderate), followed by acupuncture (SMD = −1.87, 95% CrI: −2.94 to −0.81, GRADE = moderate) and electroacupuncture (SMD = −1.60, 95% CrI: −3 to −0.21; GRADE = low).

Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that acupressure can be recommended as the optimal treatment for reducing sleep disturbance in cancer patients. They also suggest further trials to investigate the effects of different acupuncture or acupressure techniques have on sleep in cancer patients, especially alongside other therapies.

“Based on available evidence, acupressure may be a more promising approach than acupuncture for reducing sleep disturbance in patients with cancer,” said corresponding author Denise Shuk Ting Cheung, BNurs, PhD, RN, of the University of Hong Kong. “Future studies should focus on the differential mechanisms of action of acupressure and acupuncture and link them to the multifactorial causes of sleep disturbance in patients with cancer.”

Source: Wiley

Categories : Pain ManagementTags :

Electroacupuncture Spares Opioids for Knee Replacement Pain Relief

On By ModernMedia
Source: Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Patients who have electroacupuncture during total knee replacement surgery report less pain and need far fewer opioids to manage their discomfort. In the study, 65% of patients who received acupuncture during surgery were able to have a low-dose or opioid-free postoperative experience, compared to 9% of patients outside of the study.

The results of the study were presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2021 annual meeting. 

“Total knee replacements are one of the most common operative procedures in the United States and often very painful, so there’s a great need to explore non-opioid pain relief techniques for this type of surgery,” said lead author Stephanie Cheng, MD, DABMA, assistant attending anaesthesiologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery and assistant professor of clinical anaesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Acupuncture is extremely safe and can help reduce pain with few unwanted side effects, but it has not been well researched as part of surgical anesthesia.”

The study enrolled 41 patients who had primary total knee replacement, all of whom received the institution’s standard opioid-sparing multimodal analgesic protocol, with the addition of electroacupuncture, which is a modified form of traditional acupuncture that applies a small electric current to thin needles that are inserted at known acupuncture points on the body. The acupuncture was administered during surgery by Dr Cheng, who is board-certified in medical acupuncture, to eight specific points in the ear to provide targeted pain relief in the knee.

With the addition of acupuncture, the majority of patients had reduced postoperative opioid use, compared to historical controls, while 65% of patients either maintained a low-dose opioid regimen of 15 oxycodone pills or less (57.5%) or remained completely opioid-free (7.5%) from induction of anaesthesia to 30 days post-surgery. Historically, only 9% of patients outside of the study were able to maintain a low-dose or opioid-free regimen post-surgery. Thirty days after surgery, all patients discontinued opioid use.

“Our study shows that if a trained medical acupuncturist is available to perform acupuncture in the operating room, it can help patients with postoperative pain recovery,” said Dr Cheng. “Most studies fail to incorporate nontraditional techniques, such as acupuncture, to help decrease the dependence on opioid medications for postoperative pain control.”

Low-dose perioperative opioid consumption is key to mitigating the opioid epidemic and opioid misuse by patients. Dr Cheng pointed out that with acupuncture being commonly used outside of the hospital as an effective therapy for pain management and treatment for a range of health issues and symptoms, it’s time to consider its benefits inside the hospital as well. “Additional research is needed to further define acupuncture’s effects and encourage its use in all aspects of disease treatment.”

Source: American Society of Anesthesiologists