Acupuncture in Cancer Care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Abstract

Acupuncture, an ancient form of medical treatment and philosophy originating in China over several thousand years ago, has gained increasing usage and acceptance in the United States over the past decade, including its use as adjunct treatment for cancer patients. Acupuncture is a major clinical service and focus of clinical research studies at the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston, Massachusetts. The Zakim Center provides acupuncture for patients with cancer and cancer survivors for symptom management or treatment-related side effects, including chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting, cancer pain, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, and/or a sense of well-being, based on the patient’s condition and evidence of safety and efficacy. Communication with allopathic clinicians and documentation in the medical record are standard procedures in the Zakim Center which are crucial to the acupuncturist and the oncology care team members benefit from each other’s contributions to the patient’s overall cancer care. The successful integration of acupuncture at Dana-Farber, a premier academic medical and research facility, underscores the need for oncology acupuncture protocols and for more acupuncturists with specialized clinical experience working with cancer patients. For this reason, oncology acupuncture is proposed as a new subspecialty in which acupuncturists possess clinical knowledge and skills in both acupuncture and oncology in order to optimize safety and efficacy, thereby providing a truly integrative approach for the cancer patient population.