Acupuncture as a Treatment Within Integrative Health for Palliative Care: A Brief Narrative Review of Evidence and Recommendations

NADA Acupuncture in Specialized Palliative Care: Patients' and Family Caregivers' Experiences

CONTEXT

Over the last 30 years, non-pharmacological treatment with ear acupuncture, including National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) acupuncture, has become popular in Western society to relieve cancer-related symptoms.

OBJECTIVES

This study aim is to explore whether NADA acupuncture plays a role in relieving suffering experienced by patients hospitalized in a specialized palliative care ward and their family caregivers and whether it contributes to their coping skills.

METHODS

A qualitative study with a hermeneutic approach utilizing inductive thematic content analysis. Purposeful sampling took place in a specialized palliative care ward in Denmark and all data were collected through semi-structured interviews with patients and family caregivers as either individual or family interviews.

RESULTS

A total of 10 patients and 15 family caregivers participated in interviews. Four themes emerged: (1) communication about treatment with NADA acupuncture, (2) relief of suffering generates extra energy and inner strength, (3) sharing the experience with the family is beneficial, and (4) physical and psychological effects after receiving NADA acupuncture.

CONCLUSION

Patients in palliative care and their family caregivers experienced relief of suffering after receiving NADA acupuncture, as well as improved well-being, and extra energy and inner strength to cope with their life situation. The ability to share NADA acupuncture gave family caregivers the feeling of being cared for and contributed to feelings of fellowship and togetherness within the family, strengthening their ability to communicate and cope.

The effect of narrative nursing on improving the negative emotions and quality of life of patients with moderate to severe cancer pain

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to explore the effect of narrative nursing on improving the negative emotions, sleep quality, and quality of life of patients with moderate to severe cancer pain.

METHODS

A total of 80 patients with moderate to severe cancer pain who had been hospitalized in the lymphoma oncology department in our hospital from March 2019 to September 2021 were selected as the study subjects and randomly divided into the conventional nursing and narrative nursing groups, with 40 cases in each group. A conventional nursing intervention was conducted for one group, and narrative nursing was provided for the second group in addition to the conventional nursing. The anxiety and depression, sleep quality, quality of life, and satisfaction with pain management of the patients in the two groups were compared before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

In the narrative nursing group, the self-rating anxiety scale and self-rating depression scale scores were significantly lower than those in the conventional nursing group after the intervention (P < 0.05). The scores for sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and daytime dysfunction and the total Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores were significantly lower in the narrative nursing group compared with the conventional care group (P < 0.05). The scores for the physical function, living ability, social adaptation, and psychological status items in the Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 were significantly higher in the narrative nursing group than in the conventional care group (P < 0.05). The patients' satisfaction with pain management was higher in the narrative nursing group than in the conventional care group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Narrative nursing can alleviate the negative emotions of anxiety and depression in patients with moderate to severe cancer pain and improve their sleep quality, quality of life, and pain management satisfaction.

PRECIS-2 analysis of pragmatic acupuncture trials: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Pragmatic acupuncture trials (PATs) are a research tool for assessing the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments in a real-world setting. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive methodological analysis of PATs using the PRECIS-2(PRagmatic Explanatory Continuum Indicator Summary-2) tool to determine their pragmatism.

METHODS

The MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials, CINAHL, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP, WANFANG, Taiwan Periodical Literature Database, KoreaMed, KMbase, Research Information Service System, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, CiNii and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched. The search included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and protocols of RCTs that investigated all types of acupuncture and used self-declared pragmatic design. Two authors independently collected the basic information and characteristics of the studies and assessed their pragmatism using the nine PRECIS-2 domains and the additional domain of control.

RESULTS

A total of 93 studies were included. The means of eligibility, recruitment, organisation, primary outcome, primary analysis, and control domains were statistically larger than three and were shown to be pragmatic. The means of setting, flexibility:delivery, and follow-up domains were not greater than three and were shown to be non-pragmatic. For flexibility:adherence domain was inappropriate for assessment owing to insufficient information in the studies.

CONCLUSIONS

PATs were pragmatic in the domain of eligibility, recruitment, organisation, primary outcome, primary analysis, and control and were not pragmatic in the domain of setting, flexibility:delivery, and follow-up. Future PATs need to strengthen the pragmatism in the setting, flexibility:delivery, and follow-up domains and to describe the flexibility:adherence domain in more detail.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

CRD42021236975.

Symptom clusters associated with complementary and alternative medicine use by cancer patients: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a commonly used approach among cancer patients, with a reported prevalence of 14.8 to 73.1% depending on multiple factors. Even though a typical patient-reported reason for using CAM is symptom control, no conclusive evidence could be established for specific symptoms being a predictor for CAM use. Symptom clusters are a novel approach for assessing a multidimensional symptom burden, reflecting the impact of diseases on the patient's quality of life and considering the tendency of symptoms to occur in groups.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A single-center cross-sectional study on cancer patients during oncological or palliative care was conducted to identify socio-demographical and clinical characteristics, including symptom clusters of CAM users and non-users. Symptom clusters were defined using latent profile analysis, and multivariable analyses were performed to assess significant factors influencing CAM use.

RESULTS

Of 171 cancer patients in this study, 63.7% used CAM alongside oncological treatment or palliative care. The most common CAM therapies were biological and physical therapies, including homeopathy (30.3%), supplements (27.4%), herbs (26.6%), massage (24.8%), and acupuncture (22.0%). Four distinct symptom clusters were identified, of which the cluster drowsiness-depression-anxiety was associated with a 3.83-fold increased chance of using CAM compared to low-symptomatic cancer patients. Multivariate analysis did not show any additional significant predictors of socio-demographical factors.

CONCLUSION

Using the concept of symptom clusters revealed a significant predictor for CAM use, suggesting to be a more conclusive method for assessing symptom burden in cancer patients. In addition, understanding why and how cancer patients turn to CAM can enhance the quality of multidisciplinary communication about its use.

Acupuncture for postoperative pain of lumbar disc herniation: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Evidence for the effects of acupuncture on postoperative pain of Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is inconsistent. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for postoperative pain of LDH.

METHODS

We performed a comprehensive search on PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and four Chinese databases (CNKI, Wan Fang, CBMdisc, and VIP) for articles published before September 2021. The data extraction table was made for the ten included studies, and the risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane collaboration tool, followed by statistical analysis using RevMan 5.3.

RESULTS

A total of ten studies involving 838patients were included. The statistical meta-analysis showed that acupuncture treatment was significantly better than drugs in improving cure rate (OR = 2.24, 95% CI = [1.58, 3.19], P < .00001) and the total effectiveness rate (OR = 4.85, 95% CI = [2.59, 9.08], P < .00001). And the results from the meta-analysis showed that acupuncture group was superior to control group in debasing visual analog scale score (MD = -1.26, 95% CI = [-1.72, -0.79], P < .00001) and improving Japanese Orthopaedic Association score (MD = 4.21, 95% CI = [1.53, 6.90], P < .00001). In addition, acupuncture was statistically significantly better than drugs (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = [0.11, 0.62], P = .002) in the incidence of adverse events, However, there was no statistically significant difference between acupuncture and rehabilitation (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = [0.07, 1.98], P = .24).

CONCLUSION

Acupuncture is an effective and safe treatment for postoperative pain of LDH. It can be recommended to manage patients with postoperative pain of LDH. However, considering the unsatisfactory quality of the included studies, more high-quality randomized controlled trials with a large sample size are needed to elucidate this issue.

Acupuncture as a post-stroke treatment option: A narrative review of clinical guideline recommendations

BACKGROUND

Acupuncture may be useful to treat the various clusters of symptoms occurring after a stroke. The use of evidence to underpin clinical practice and treatment guidelines (CPGs and TGs respectively) varies from country to country and may affect what recommendations are made by guideline developers.

PURPOSE

To examine the extent to which international clinical and treatment guidelines on post-stroke treatment mention the role of acupuncture and to identify what symptoms they recommend for its use.

METHOD

Scoping of national and international websites of CPGs and TGs r on the after care and rehabilitation of stroke patients provided by professional and government organisations was conducted. The presence/absence of recommendations and the underpinning evidence was appraised for the use of acupuncture for symptoms following stroke.

RESULTS

Of 84 CPGs and TGs on post stroke after-care identified from 27 countries between 2001 and 2021, 49 made statements about acupuncture. Positive recommendations on the use of acupuncture were identified for 15 symptom areas from 11 countries for: stroke rehabilitation, dysphagia, shoulder pain, motor recovery, walking, balance, spasticity, upper limb extremity impairment, post-stroke pain, central post stroke pain, cognitive disorder, depression, and sleep problems. Thirty-five CPGs (2001-2018) from 18 countries published over the same period were identified that made no mention of acupuncture and therefore no recommendations were made on its use.

CONCLUSIONS

Currently, evidence used by international guideline developers varies and this influences whether a positive or negative recommendation is made. Recommendations to use acupuncture should be based on the best available evidence which has been quality appraised.

Implementation of Acupuncture in Routine Oncology Care: A Comparison of Physicians’, Nurses’, Physiotherapists’ and Acupuncturists’ Practice and Beliefs

Background:

It is important to investigate beliefs in acupuncture in professionals because professionals’ expectations may affect treatment outcomes.

Aim:

To document the type, number, and education of professionals practicing acupuncture. Further, to compare beliefs about the effectiveness of acupuncture for common cancer related symptoms in the different types of professionals.

Methods:

This cross-sectional study employed a questionnaire on practice and beliefs regarding acupuncture effects for symptoms that commonly occur in patients treated within oncology care settings. The respondents (n = 555) consisted of oncology professionals that is, physicians (n = 133), nurses (n = 172), and physiotherapists (n = 117). Additional respondents consisted of acupuncturists (n = 133), working outside approved health care.

Results:

Of the respondents, acupuncture was practiced by 4% of the physicians, 6% of the nurses, 58% of the physiotherapists, and 90% of the acupuncturists. The professionals believed acupuncture to be effective for pain (of the physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and acupuncturists, 94%, 98%, 89%, and 99% respectively believed in the effectiveness), chemotherapy-induced nausea (corresponding figures: 74%, 89%, 89%, and 93%), and vasomotor symptoms (corresponding figures: 71%, 81%, 80%, and 97%). The physicians believed acupuncture to be effective in a mean of 5 symptoms, nurses in 6 symptoms, physiotherapists in 6 symptoms, and acupuncturists in 10 symptoms ( P < .001).

Conclusions:

Since the professionals varied substantially regarding practice, education and beliefs in acupuncture, oncology clinics may consider delivering patient preferred acupuncture according to evidence-informed guidelines rather than on varying preferences among the professionals, since professionals’ treatment expectations may modify treatment outcomes.

Reframing Palliative Care: An East-West Integrative Palliative Care Model

Convergence of principles of palliative care and integrative medicine has led to the introduction of the new practice of integrative palliative care in which integrative therapies (including mind-body modalities, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and dietary supplements) are used to provide symptom management for patients who are dying or experiencing the sequelae of serious illness and its treatment. We propose an East-West Integrative palliative care model using non-drug therapies, such as acupuncture, diet, exercise, and stress management that shift the paradigm from suppressing the symptoms of illness to addressing both the root cause of the symptoms and the imbalance and declining homeostatic reserve that perpetuate these symptoms. This whole-person model expands the reach of palliative care, prolonging a better quality of life and allowing the patient to maintain as many activities as possible by preventing symptoms and improving function. Through this approach we reframe the dialogue such that patients are “living better” rather than “dying better” when faced with serious illness or death. In this article, we provide an overview of the principles of palliative care, integrative medicine, and the novel area of integrative palliative care, and propose an East-West integrative palliative care model that incorporates and broadens the scope of these existing approaches.