MONDAY, June 24, 2024 (HealthDay News) — A 10-week acupuncture intervention significantly reduced endocrine symptoms and hot flashes in women with breast cancer receiving endocrine therapy (ET), according to a study published online June 24. cancer.
In three parallel randomized trials in the US, China, and South Korea, Weidong Lu, PhD, MPH, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and his colleagues enrolled 158 patients with stage 0 to III breast cancer who were experiencing hot flashes and undergoing ET (78, 40, and 40 patients, respectively). Participants were randomly assigned to receive either immediate acupuncture (IA), consisting of 20 sessions over 10 weeks, or delayed acupuncture control (DAC), which consisted of usual treatment followed by a transition to reduced-intensity acupuncture.
The researchers found that compared with DAC participants, IA participants experienced greater improvements in endocrine symptoms subscale scores, hot flash scores, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast total scores at 10 weeks. The effects of the acupuncture intervention varied by site.
“Additional studies are needed to evaluate the effect of acupuncture on hot flashes in more racially and ethnically diverse breast cancer patient populations and to determine whether improvement in hot flashes translates into better medication adherence, raising the possibility that acupuncture may not only help patients feel better during ET but also help improve cancer-related outcomes in women with breast cancer,” the authors wrote.
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