Acupuncture combined with opioid drugs on moderate and severe cancer pain: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

To explore the clinical therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined with opioid drugs on moderate and severe cancer pain. A total of 60 patients with cancer were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. Oxycodonehydrochloride prolonged-release tablet was taken orally in the control group. On the basis of the control group, acupuncture was applied at Hegu (LI 4), Neiguan (PC 6), Zusanli (ST 36), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), etc. Corresponding back-shu points, xi-cleft points and ashi points were selected additionally according to primary viscera and pain sites in the observation group. The treatment was given once a day for 2 weeks. Symptomatic and supportive treatment were implanted, and no other antalgic measures were given during the trial. The daily dosage of opioid drug and the adverse reactions were recorded in both groups. Karnofsky performance status (KPS) and quality of life (QOL) scale scores were compared before and after treatment. Numerical rating scale (NRS) score was calculated to evaluate the clinical therapeutic effect. Compared before treatment, the daily dosage of opioid drugs after treatment was obviously reduced in the observation group (P<0.01), and was obviously increased in the control group (P<0.05). The dosage of opioid drugs after treatment in the observation group was much less than the control group (P<0.01). After treatment, the KPS and QOL scores were increased in both groups (P<0.01), and the scores in the observation group were superior to the control group (P<0.01, P<0.05). The analgesic effective rate was 90.0% (27/30) in the observation group, which was superior to 76.7% (23/30) in the control group (P<0.05). The adverse reactions rate in the observation group was lower than the control group (P<0.01). Acupuncture combined with opioid drugs can effectively relieve the cancer pain, improve the performance status and quality of life in cancer patients, reduce the dosage of opioid drugs and adverse reactions rate.