Acupuncture for cancer-induced bone pain?

Paley, Carole A. and Bennett, Michael I. and Johnson, Mark I. (2011) Acupuncture for cancer-induced bone pain? Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011. p. 671043. ISSN 1741-4288

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Abstract

Bone pain is the most common type of pain in cancer. Bony metastases are common in advanced cancers, particularly in multiple myeloma, breast, prostate or lung cancer. Current pain-relieving strategies include the use of opioid-based analgesia, bisphosphonates and radiotherapy. Although patients experience some pain relief, these interventions may produce unacceptable side-effects which inevitably affect the quality of life. Acupuncture may represent a potentially valuable adjunct to existing strategies for pain relief and it is known to be relatively free of harmful side-effects. Although acupuncture is used in palliative care settings for all types of cancer pain the evidence-base is sparse and inconclusive and there is very little evidence to show its effectiveness in relieving cancer-induced bone pain (CIBP). The aim of this critical review is to consider the known physiological effects of acupuncture and discuss these in the context of the pathophysiology of malignant bone pain. The aim of future research should be to produce an effective protocol for treating CIBP with acupuncture based on a sound, evidence-based rationale. The physiological mechanisms presented in this review suggest that this is a realistic objective.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2707
Subjects:
?? acupuncture – bone pain – cancer – malignant – metastaticcomplementary and alternative mediciner medicine (general) ??
ID Code:
32144
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
10 Mar 2010 16:40
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 10:49