Effectiveness of Additional Acupuncture Therapy for Lung Cancer Patients - A single group before-and-after, preliminary study

Abstract

This study is a single group before-and-after study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of additional acupuncture therapy for lung cancer patients being treated with chemotherapy. Acupuncture therapy was conducted twice a day at least for a week. The effectiveness outcome measures were the Korean Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-L) and the Korean Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) at the baseline, discharge and four weeks after discharge, and visual analogue scale(VAS) checked daily from the baseline to discharge. Ten patients were enrolled, one patient had excluded due to acute exacerbation of lung cancer. The data of nine patients showed some improvement in all of FACT-L, FACIT-F and VAS, however, there were no statistical significance. Additional acupuncture therapy for lung cancer patients treated with chemotherapy might be beneficial to improve the quality of life(QoL) and to improve fatigue. Prospective trials with complex traditional Korean medicine interventions are needed to further investigation.