
Tumour
Electro-acupuncture reduces arthralgia in cancer patients taking aromatase inhibitors
This report has been verified
by one or more authors of the
original publication.
Eur J Cancer. 2014 Jan;50(2):267-76. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2013.09.022. Epub 2013 Oct 24
67 women with non-metastatic breast cancer (Stage I-III) experiencing joint pain attributed to the use of aromatase inhibitor (AI) were included in this study. Subjects were randomized to an intervention group, or a wait list control (WLC) group. Those randomized to the intervention group were further randomly allocated to either electro-acupuncture (EA; electrical stimulation via acupuncture needles) or sham acupuncture (SA). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of these interventions on reducing arthralgia, or joint pain, in these patients. Results at 8 weeks indicated that patients in the EA group experienced greater improvements in pain severity, pain-related interference, patient global impression of change, WOMAC scores, and DASH scores, compared to those in the WLC group. Significantly better improvements in pain severity and pain-related interference in the EA group were maintained at the 12-week follow-up. Notably, there were no significant differences in study outcomes between the EA and SA groups.
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