Patients with rectal cancer treated with acupuncture
showed a significant reduction in severity of chemotherapy-induced hand-foot
syndrome compared with control group. The report was published in the World
Journal of Acupuncture-Moxibustion.
Hand-foot syndrome (HFS) is also called palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia.
It is an adverse effect of some cancer chemotherapies. Hand-foot syndrome
causes abnormal sensation, such as tingling, numbness, burning or itching on
the palms and soles, as well as redness, swelling, and pain on the palms of the
hands and/or the soles of the feet. Sometimes blisters appear. Hand-foot
syndrome sometimes occurs elsewhere on the skin, such as the knees or elbows.
But this is less common.
Relieving side effects is an important part of cancer
care and treatment. Topical anti-inflammatory medications may help relieve some
symptoms. In addition, the doctor may lower the chemotherapy dose or change
your chemotherapy schedule, or even may need to temporarily stop your
chemotherapy until the symptoms of hand-foot syndrome improve. This could
significantly hamper the efficacy of chemotherapy. Acupuncture has been used to
treat inflammatory-related conditions.
Recently a clinical study was conducted to assess effect
of acupuncture on hand-foot syndrome induced by chemotherapy in patients with
rectal cancer. A total of sixty patients with rectal cancer were enlisted and
randomly divided into acupuncture group (n=30), and vitamin 6 group (n=30) as
the control. The primary acupoints included GV20, LI4, TB5, ST36 and ashi
points and supplementary acupoints included KD3, SP6 and GB34 when it is
necessary. Acupuncture needles were applied on above acupoints and retained for
30 mins, daily for 2 weeks. Patients within control group took vitamin B6
(oral, 300mg) daily for a total of two weeks.
The primary outcome measures included the Common Toxicity
Criteria of the National Cancer Institute of Canada (CTC) and the Karnofsky
Performance Scale (KPS). The CTC grades symptoms using a scale of 1–4, with
higher scores indicating increased severity. The KPS is on a scale of 0–100,
with higher scores indicating an increased ability to perform daily activities
and lower scores indicating increased levels of disability. Patients whose CTC
scores were reduced to grade 1 following treatment, with a disappearance of
symptoms and a KPS score of ≥ 90 were categorized as cured. For
patients whose CTC scores were reduced to ≥
grade 1, with an improvement in symptoms, and a KPS score of 80–89, the
treatments were categorized as effective. For patients showing no obvious
improvements and had KPS scores of < 80, the treatments were categorized as
ineffective. In addition, the QLQ-C30 (Quality of Life Questionnaire Core), a
30-item functional scale covering the areas of PF (physical function), RF (role
function), CF (cognitive function), EF (emotional function), and SF (social
function) were also monitored before and after the treatment.
The results showed that in the acupuncture group, there
were 5 cured (16.7%), 16 effective (53.3%), and 9 ineffective (30%) cases,
yielding a total effective rate of 70.0% for rectal cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
In vitamin B6 control group, there were 4 cured (13.3%), 7 effective (23.3%),
and 19 ineffective (63.3%) cases, yielding a total effective rate of 36.7% for
rectal cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Positive outcomes with
improvements in PF, EF, and CF were greater in the acupuncture group, being of
statistical significance (p<0.05) compared with vitamin B6 group.
The data of this study suggests that acupuncture is an
effective treatment for hand-foot syndrome, with the ability to alleviate
symptoms and improve overall quality of life with rectal cancer patients
receiving chemotherapy.
Reference:
F Li et al., Chemotherapy-induced
hand-foot syndrome in rectal cancer treated with acupuncture. World Journal of
Acupuncture-Moxibustion. 2018, Vol.28 pp. 151-155. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1003525718301144
