Quantitative study on the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of menopausal hot flashes and its comparison with nonhormonal drugs

Electroacupuncture for hot flashes in early postmenopause: A study protocol for a randomized sham-controlled trial

Introduction

Many early postmenopausal women experience hot flashes (HFs). Electroacupuncture (EA) is a safe and effective therapy for menopause-related symptoms. However, there are few rigorous clinical trials on this topic. This randomized controlled trial is designed to explore the feasibility and efficacy of EA in the treatment of early postmenopausal HF.

Methods

This study is a randomized, controlled trial involving 72 early postmenopausal patients. Patients will be randomized 1:1 to the EA or sham acupuncture (SA) group. The acupuncture points that will be used are Hegu (LI4), Fuliu (KI7), Taixi (KI3), Shenshu (BL23), Guanyuan (CV4), and Sanyinjiao (SP6). Participants in each group will receive 18 acupuncture sessions over 6 weeks (three times per week). The primary outcome is the hot-flash score at the end of the 6 week of intervention. Secondary outcome measures are the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Menopause-Specific Quality of Life, Menopause Rating Scale, Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Score Scale, and estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and anti-Mullerian hormone levels. Safety will be assessed at every visit.

Conclusion

This prospective trial will evaluate the efficacy of EA in the treatment of HFs among early postmenopausal women. Our results will provide additional knowledge for clinicians in the treatment of HFs.

The 2023 nonhormone therapy position statement of The North American Menopause Society

OBJECTIVE

To update the evidence-based Nonhormonal Management of Menopause-Associated Vasomotor Symptoms: 2015 Position Statement of The North American Menopause Society.

METHODS

An advisory panel of clinicians and research experts in women's health were selected to review and evaluate the literature published since the Nonhormonal Management of Menopause-Associated Vasomotor Symptoms: 2015 Position Statement of The North American Menopause Society. Topics were divided into five sections for ease of review: lifestyle; mind-body techniques; prescription therapies; dietary supplements; and acupuncture, other treatments, and technologies. The panel assessed the most current and available literature to determine whether to recommend or not recommend use based on these levels of evidence: Level I, good and consistent scientific evidence; Level II, limited or inconsistent scientific evidence, and Level III, consensus and expert opinion.

RESULTS

Evidence-based review of the literature resulted in several nonhormone options for the treatment of vasomotor symptoms. Recommended: Cognitive-behavioral therapy, clinical hypnosis, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors/serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, gabapentin, fezolinetant (Level I); oxybutynin (Levels I-II); weight loss, stellate ganglion block (Levels II-III). Not recommended: Paced respiration (Level I); supplements/herbal remedies (Levels I-II); cooling techniques, avoiding triggers, exercise, yoga, mindfulness-based intervention, relaxation, suvorexant, soy foods and soy extracts, soy metabolite equol, cannabinoids, acupuncture, calibration of neural oscillations (Level II); chiropractic interventions, clonidine; (Levels I-III); dietary modification and pregabalin (Level III).

CONCLUSION

Hormone therapy remains the most effective treatment for vasomotor symptoms and should be considered in menopausal women within 10 years of their final menstrual periods. For women who are not good candidates for hormone therapy because of contraindications (eg, estrogen-dependent cancers or cardiovascular disease) or personal preference, it is important for healthcare professionals to be well informed about nonhormone treatment options for reducing vasomotor symptoms that are supported by the evidence.

A model-based quantitative analysis of efficacy and associated factors of platelet rich plasma treatment for osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE

While platelet rich plasma (PRP) has been extensively studied in treating osteoarthritis (OA), there has been an ongoing debate regarding the efficacy of PRP and the optimal subpopulation for PRP treatment remains unknown. The authors hereby aim to establish a pharmacodynamic model-based meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate PRP efficacy, comparing with hyaluronic acid (HA) and identify relevant factors that significantly affect the efficacy of PRP treatment for OA.

METHODS

The authors searched for PubMed and the Cochrane Library Central Register of Controlled Trials of PRP randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the treatment of symptomatic or radiographic OA from the inception dates to 15 July 2022. Participants' clinical and demographic characteristics and efficacy data, defined as Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index and visual analog scale pain scores at each time point were extracted.

RESULTS

A total of 45 RCTs (3829 participants) involving 1805 participants injected with PRP were included in the analysis. PRP reached a peak efficacy at ~ 2-3 months after injection in patients with OA. Both conventional meta-analysis and pharmacodynamic maximal effect models showed that PRP was significantly more effective than HA for joint pain and function impairment (additional decrease of 1.1, 0.5, 4.3, and 1.1 scores compared to HA treatment at 12 months for Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain, stiffness, function, and visual analog scale pain scores, respectively). Higher baseline symptom scores, older age (≥60 years), higher BMI (≥30), lower Kellgren-Lawrence grade (≤2) and shorter OA duration (<6 months) were significantly associated with greater efficacy of PRP treatment.

CONCLUSION

These findings sugges t that PRP is a more effective treatment for OA than the more well-known HA treatment. The authors also determined the time when the PRP injection reaches peak efficacy and optimized the targeting subpopulation of OA. Further high-quality RCTs are required to confirm the optimal population of PRP in the treatment of OA.

Sexuality after breast cancer, how to provide a global and contemporary approach

Patients' sexuality is one of the major and most neglected impact of breast cancer (BC) and its treatment. Even though research is ongoing on the subject, sexuality issues are rarely taken into account and efficiently dealt with in clinical practice. The objective is to review the impact of BC and its treatment on modern women sexuality. In the literature, a heterogeneous level of advancement is notable in the different publishing countries depending on the cultural background; some countries simply do not publish on the matter, others mainly discuss the male partners and practicians experience, and lastly, the most progressive countries have moved up to studying niches of patients such as sexual and gender minorities. A multidisciplinary approach, including pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic management, appears most efficient. There is a need for greater inclusion of partners and for providing a specific training to first-line health care providers. This review provides a general contemporary worldwide overview of the state of the art in sexuality issues in BC patients and survivors.

Quantitative evaluation of therapy options for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A model-based meta-analysis

New therapies for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/rDLBCL) have emerged in recent years, but there have been no comprehensive quantitative comparisons of the efficacy of these therapies. In this study, the efficacy characteristics of 11 types of treatment strategy and 63 treatment regimens were compared by model based meta-analysis. We found that compared with monotherapy, association therapy had significant benefits in terms of overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and objective response rate (ORR). However, whereas treatment regimens involving chemotherapy contributed to significant improvements in ORR and PFS, OS was not improved. In terms of treatment strategy, we identified chemotherapy in association with immunotherapy sequential autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), the association of two different types of immunotherapies, chemotherapy sequential ASCT, chemotherapy in association with immunotherapy, and chemotherapy in association with two types of immunotherapies as showing better efficacy. With respect to specific treatment regimens, we found that the following had better efficacy: rituximab in association with inotuzumab ozogamicin; rituximab in association with carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan sequential ASCT (R-BEAM+ASCT); lenalidomide in association with rituximab, etoposide, cisplatin, cytarabine, and methylprednisolone; iodine-131 tositumomab in association with BEAM sequential ASCT; and chemotherapy sequential chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy, with median OS of 48.2, 34.2, 27.8, 25.8, and 25 months, respectively. Moreover, with respect to association therapy, there was a strong correlation between the 6-month PFS and 2-year OS. The findings of this study provide the necessary quantitative information for clinical practice and clinical trial design for the treatment of r/rDLBCL.