Acupoint stimulation improves pain and quality of life in head and neck cancer patients with chemoradiotherapy: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of acupoint stimulation on pain, negative moods, and quality of life for head and neck cancer (HNC) patients who underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). METHODS: This randomized controlled trial recruited participants from a medical center and randomly assigned using a permuted block randomization list with computer-generated random serial numbers into the AcuCare group (n ​= ​46) receiving acupoint stimulation with transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (TAES) and auricular acupressure (AA) or the control group (n ​= ​46) without any acupoint stimulation. Outcomes were repeatedly assessed pain intensity using the visual analogue scale, negative moods using the hospital anxiety and depression scale, and quality of life (QoL) using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire—Head and Neck 35. RESULTS: After adjusting varying mucositis grades and time-dependent growth effects, the generalized estimating equations showed a significantly increase in pain intensity at weeks 1, 2, 3, and 6 (P ​< ​0.05), but not in negative moods (P ​> ​0.05), compared to baseline and control group. Analysis of covariance showed a significant group-difference in the senses problems of QoL (F ​= ​7.33, P ​= ​0.01) at Week 6. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports that acupoint stimulation could effectively reduce pain and improve senses problem of QoL for patients with HNC. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/NCT03640195.