A new study finds acupuncture effective for the treatment of breast cancer drug treatment side effects.

The study focuses on acupuncture for the relief of symptoms due to aromatase inhibitor treatment intake. The researchers noted two interesting findings. First, acupuncture is statistically more effective than clonidine for the treatment of hot flashes due to breast cancer treatment. Secondly, statistical differences between sham acupuncture and real acupuncture did not exist in some quality of life measures determined by questionnaires to participants. Oddly, the publication makes no mention of acupuncture needle techniques, types, brands, lengths, gauges, insertion angles and insertion depths.

Real acupuncture produced a mean reduction of 37% for hot flashes. The researchers note that this is superior to the 20% reduction achieved by the pharmaceutical drug clonidine but less than that achieved by paroxetine (45.6%). The researchers note that acupuncture, unlike the medications reviewed, “was not associated with any significant side effects, whereas clonidine and antidepressants were associated with multiple side effects….” Continue reading →