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Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Acupuncture, per se, is not used for treating cancer. However, acupuncture is used for treating several cancer-related symptoms, such as, for example, pain, antiestrogen-induced hot flashes, as well as cancer-related fatigue (CRF). There are several studies that assess the evidence o...

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Autores principales: Choi, Tae-Young, Ang, Lin, Jun, Ji Hee, Alraek, Terje, Lee, Myeong Soo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9139178/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35625952
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102347
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author Choi, Tae-Young
Ang, Lin
Jun, Ji Hee
Alraek, Terje
Lee, Myeong Soo
author_facet Choi, Tae-Young
Ang, Lin
Jun, Ji Hee
Alraek, Terje
Lee, Myeong Soo
author_sort Choi, Tae-Young
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Acupuncture, per se, is not used for treating cancer. However, acupuncture is used for treating several cancer-related symptoms, such as, for example, pain, antiestrogen-induced hot flashes, as well as cancer-related fatigue (CRF). There are several studies that assess the evidence of acupuncture for palliative cancer treatment; but there are none for CRF. The aim of this overview, therefore, was to comprehensively summarize and critically evaluate the current evidence of the efficacy of AT in the management of CRF. ABSTRACT: Although acupuncture (AT) is used in the treatment of CRF, the evidence from different systematic reviews (SRs) of AT has not yet been comprehensively evaluated. Moxibustion, which is a treatment method that is well established within Traditional East Asian Medicine, applies the heat of burning herbs towards or onto special points on the skin. Commonly, the herb Artemisia vulgaris, is used. It has been used for palliative cancer care, as well as for CRF. The aim of this overview was to evaluate the efficacy of AT and moxibustion in the management of CRF. Eleven databases were searched through for studies that were published from their dates of inception to February 2022. The study selection, the data extraction, and the assessment were performed independently by two researchers. The methodological and report quality were assessed by using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) tool. The evidence quality was evaluated by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Fifteen SRs on AT (n = 10) and moxibustion (n = 5) treatments for CRF were included, and they include 169 randomized controlled trials and 14,392 participants. All of the SRs that were evaluated by the AMASTAR-2 had more than one deficiency, and so all of the SRs were rated as either low or critically low. For the GRADE, 18 outcomes were rated as very-low-quality evidence, 13 as low-quality evidence, 3 as moderate-quality evidence, and 0 as high-quality evidence. Most of the SRs reached the potential benefits of AT for CRF. No serious adverse effects were identified. In conclusion, the evidence suggests that, despite the advantages of AT in terms of the improvement in and the safety of the treatment of CRF, the methodological quality of most of these studies is low, which limits our ability to draw definitive meanings. Further research of high quality is needed in order to confirm these findings.
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spelling pubmed-91391782022-05-28 Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Choi, Tae-Young Ang, Lin Jun, Ji Hee Alraek, Terje Lee, Myeong Soo Cancers (Basel) Systematic Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: Acupuncture, per se, is not used for treating cancer. However, acupuncture is used for treating several cancer-related symptoms, such as, for example, pain, antiestrogen-induced hot flashes, as well as cancer-related fatigue (CRF). There are several studies that assess the evidence of acupuncture for palliative cancer treatment; but there are none for CRF. The aim of this overview, therefore, was to comprehensively summarize and critically evaluate the current evidence of the efficacy of AT in the management of CRF. ABSTRACT: Although acupuncture (AT) is used in the treatment of CRF, the evidence from different systematic reviews (SRs) of AT has not yet been comprehensively evaluated. Moxibustion, which is a treatment method that is well established within Traditional East Asian Medicine, applies the heat of burning herbs towards or onto special points on the skin. Commonly, the herb Artemisia vulgaris, is used. It has been used for palliative cancer care, as well as for CRF. The aim of this overview was to evaluate the efficacy of AT and moxibustion in the management of CRF. Eleven databases were searched through for studies that were published from their dates of inception to February 2022. The study selection, the data extraction, and the assessment were performed independently by two researchers. The methodological and report quality were assessed by using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2) tool. The evidence quality was evaluated by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Fifteen SRs on AT (n = 10) and moxibustion (n = 5) treatments for CRF were included, and they include 169 randomized controlled trials and 14,392 participants. All of the SRs that were evaluated by the AMASTAR-2 had more than one deficiency, and so all of the SRs were rated as either low or critically low. For the GRADE, 18 outcomes were rated as very-low-quality evidence, 13 as low-quality evidence, 3 as moderate-quality evidence, and 0 as high-quality evidence. Most of the SRs reached the potential benefits of AT for CRF. No serious adverse effects were identified. In conclusion, the evidence suggests that, despite the advantages of AT in terms of the improvement in and the safety of the treatment of CRF, the methodological quality of most of these studies is low, which limits our ability to draw definitive meanings. Further research of high quality is needed in order to confirm these findings. MDPI 2022-05-10 /pmc/articles/PMC9139178/ /pubmed/35625952 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102347 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Systematic Review
Choi, Tae-Young
Ang, Lin
Jun, Ji Hee
Alraek, Terje
Lee, Myeong Soo
Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
title Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
title_full Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
title_fullStr Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
title_short Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Cancer-Related Fatigue: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
title_sort acupuncture and moxibustion for cancer-related fatigue: an overview of systematic reviews and meta-analysis
topic Systematic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9139178/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35625952
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102347
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