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Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine pp 39–54Cite as

Supportive Cancer Care with Acupuncture

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Abstract

Acupuncture has many beneficial effects during cancer therapy and has proven efficacy in the management of side effects induced by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The main merits are as follows:

  1. (a)

    Pain: pain is the most debilitating symptom for cancer patients. Whereas opioid treatment is liable to cause drug dependency, acupuncture is able to suppress cancer pain without side effects and addiction problems. For cancer pain management, acupuncture on the Hegu (LI4) and Lieque (LU7) acupoints are effective for head and neck pain. Yanglingquan (GB34) and Weizhong (BL40) are appropriate acupoints for waist pain, while Zusanli (ST36) and Sanyangluo (TE8) are for abdominal and chest pain, respectively.

  2. (b)

    Vomiting, nausea: most studies confirm excellent efficacy of acupuncture on symptoms of vomiting and nausea, including those induced by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Neiguan (PC6), Zhigou (TE6) and Zusanli (ST36) are appropriate acupoints for treating vomiting and nausea induced by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

  3. (c)

    Xerostomia: head and neck cancer patients may receive radiotherapy and may develop xerostomia. Acupuncture on the Hegu (LI4) may relieve this symptom.

  4. (d)

    Nervousness and insomnia: Acupuncture on the Shenmen (HT7) acupoints may cause sedative and hypnotic effects.

In addition to the above-mentioned acupoints, it is important to follow the classical Meridian theory when selecting acupoints.

In animal models, acupuncture has been shown to improve immune function that is weakened by tumour. However, whether similar beneficial effects are induced in humans remains to be clarified.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Chinese Medical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Jaung-Geng Lin

  2. Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Yi-Hung Chen

Authors
  1. Jaung-Geng Lin
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  2. Yi-Hung Chen
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Correspondence to Jaung-Geng Lin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gascoigne Road 30, Kowloon, Hong Kong/PR China

    William C.S. Cho

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© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

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Lin, JG., Chen, YH. (2010). Supportive Cancer Care with Acupuncture. In: Cho, W. (eds) Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3555-4_2

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