Garcia, M. K., McQuade, J., Haddad, R., Patel, S., Lee, R., Yang, P., . . . Cohen, L. (2013). Systematic review of acupuncture in cancer care: a synthesis of the evidence. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 31, 952–960.
To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for symptom control in patients with cancer.
Databases searched were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Collaboration, Scopus, and PubMed through December 2011.
Search keywords were acupuncture, electroacupuncture, moxibustion, Chinese medicine, Asian medicine, and keywords that included cancer and cancer symptoms.
Studies were included in the review if they
Studies were excluded from the review if they
In total, 3,494 references were retrieved and evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.
Studies addressed potential management of the following symptoms:
The strongest evidence that the study produced showed that acupuncture may be effective for the management of CINV. The study did not show acupuncture to be efficacious in the treatment of other symptoms.
The studies included were of low quality.
Available evidence, which was limited, did not support the claim that acupuncture is effective in alleviating various adverse symptoms in adults with cancer. Additional research is needed to determine the efficacy. The findings of this analysis suggested that patients with uncontrolled CINV may be appropriate candidates for acupuncture referral. For the treatment of other symptoms, the efficacy is undetermined.