The characteristics of registered acupuncture clinical trials enrolling cancer patients

Conservative non-pharmacological treatments for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathies in women treated for breast cancer: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Over the last few decades, the use of neo/adjuvant therapies has significantly increased the number of breast cancer survivors who experience chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). To date, few, low-efficacy, pharmacological remedies exist to manage this side effect. For this reason, alternative treatments are increasingly being investigated as possible strategies to prevent or promote faster recovery from CIPN. In this review we aimed to provide an overview of the literature evidence regarding all the non-pharmacological and rehabilitative interventions for patients affected by CIPN secondary to breast cancer care.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

A comprehensive literature search was conducted on PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science and included a total of 1895 patients (1528 with breast cancer) with a wide range of CIPN (motor, sensory and autonomic neuropathies) and chemotherapy treatments (e.g., Taxanes, Platins, Vinca alkaloids or monoclonal antibody drugs).

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Of the initial 1108 hits, only 25 studies - describing different treatment modalities for peripheral neuropathies - were finally included in the qualitative synthesis. Most studies focused on acupuncture, physiotherapy, cryotherapy, and yoga.

CONCLUSIONS

There is still controversial evidence on conservative non-pharmacological interventions for the management of CIPN symptoms. We believe however that moderate exercise, as well as all types of stress reducing activities like sport, yoga and mindfulness, should be encouraged in cancer patients for their positive effect on global physical and psychological health. Further studies of higher methodological quality are needed to determine the best conservative approach to CIPN.

Development and Validation of an Auricular Acupuncture Protocol for the Management of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting in Cancer Patients

Auricular acupuncture (AA) has been used to manage chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). However, the application of the technique varies widely among the clinical trials that test its effectiveness. The aim of the present study was to develop and clinically validate an AA protocol for the management of CINV in cancer patients. This study was carried out in two stages: (1) development of the AA protocol for the management of CINV and (2) clinical validation of the protocol. The content validity of the protocol was determined by a panel of specialists, with an agreement rate ranging from 85.7% to 100%. In the clinical validation, when administered to cancer patients, the protocol developed has been shown to reduce the incidence, frequency, severity, and length of nausea and vomiting following chemotherapy, as well as the severity of nausea and anticipatory nausea following chemotherapy. This protocol needs to be tested in future studies, including a pilot study with a sham group and a randomized clinical trial, in order to further evaluate its feasibility, acceptability, safety, and clinical usefulness for the management of CINV.

The diagnostic value of lncRNA HOTAIR for cervical carcinoma in vaginal discharge and serum

There is a lower incidence of cervical carcinoma compared with other common carcinomas, however, the mortality rate of cervical carcinoma is higher, suggesting that the treatment and prognosis of cervical carcinoma are relatively poor. Therefore, cervical carcinoma patients urgently need to find new diagnostic markers for early detection and treatment. One hundred and fifty cervical carcinoma and 100 benign cervical disease patients from 2019 January to 2021 December in Tianjin Central Hospital of Gynecology Obstetrics were selected and 100 healthy women were as normal group. The expression of HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) in cervical carcinoma and paracancerous tissue, serum sample was measured by realtime PCR assay. The receiver operating characteristic of HOTAIR for cervical carcinoma was analyzed. The study found that the expression level of HOTAIR in primary cervical carcinoma is closely related to tumor metastasis and prognosis. The expression level of HOTAIR in paracancerous tissue was significantly lower than that in cancer tissue, and the expression level of HOTAIR in vaginal discharge and serum was higher than that in cervical carcinoma patients which was positively correlated with tumor malignancy, meanwhile, HOTAIR was significantly reduced after surgery 3 months both in vaginal discharge and serum. In order to examine the diagnostic efficiency of HOTAIR for cervical carcinoma, we found that the area under curve of vaginal discharge was 0.9723, sensitivity was 92%, specificity was 98%, the area under curve of serum was 0.8518, sensitivity was 79%, and specificity was 94% by receiver operating characteristic analysis. The accuracy were 92.7% and 89.3% in vaginal discharge and serum via certified by cervical carcinoma and benign cervical disease patient and healthy people. The above results show that the diagnostic performance of HOTAIR in vaginal discharge is higher than that of serum, and it is expected to become a marker for cervical carcinoma diagnosis and treatment.