Study Shows Acupuncture Benefits Women on Antiestrogen Treatment for Breast Cancer
By Toby Helmstetter, LAc
For many women with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer, treatments don't end when the chemotherapy is finished. In conventional breast cancer treatment, antiestrogen hormone treatment is recommended as a continuation of care for at least 5 years. But these treatments come with side effects, namely hot flashes and night sweats, which can be quite uncomfortable over such an extended period of time. Since hormone replacement therapy is contraindicated in women with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, there are very few successful treatments for these side effects. There's good news for these women, however, as a recent study shows that acupuncture is a safe, beneficial and side-effect-free treatment for women with symptoms from antiestrogen therapies.
The study, a randomized controlled trial, and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, followed 50 patients, 25 of whom received acupuncture and 25 who took the drug Veniafaxine (Efffexor) for 12 weeks. Effexor, typically a medication known for the treatment of depression, is the drug therapy of choice for these women suffering from hot flashes. Both the acupuncture group and the Effexor group "exhibited significant decreases in hot flashes, depressive symptoms and other quality-of-life-symptoms including significant improvements in mental health." Thus, the study found acupuncture as effective as the drug therapy. By 2 weeks post-treatment, however, the Effexor group experienced significant increases in their hot flashes, while the acupuncture group remained at low levels. 18 women in the Effexor group also experienced adverse side-effects--nausea, dry mouth, dizziness and anxiety. The acupuncture group had "additional benefits" including increased sex drive in some women and an improvement in energy, clarity of thought, and sense of well-being. The study declared acupuncture "a safe, effective and durable treatment for vasomotor symptoms secondary to long-term antiestrogen hormone use in patients with breast cancer."
J Clin Oncol 28:634-640.