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Acupuncture for Cancer Pain and Related Symptoms

  • Cancer Pain (DA Marcus, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Cancer pain is one of most prevalent symptoms in patients with cancer. Acupuncture and related techniques have been suggested for the management of cancer pain. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for adult cancer pain recommends acupuncture, as one of several integrative interventions, in conjunction with pharmacologic intervention as needed. This review presents the latest available evidence regarding the use of acupuncture for cancer pain. It also provides “actionable” acupuncture protocols for specific cancer pain conditions and related symptoms in order to provide more clinically relevant solutions for clinicians and cancer patients with pain. These conditions include postoperative cancer pain, postoperative nausea and vomiting, postsurgical gastroparesis syndrome, opioid-induced constipation, opioid-induced pruritus, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, aromatase inhibitor-associated joint pain, and neck dissection-related pain and dysfunction.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant #1K01 AT004415 from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).

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No conflicts of interest relevant to this article are reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Weidong Lu & David S. Rosenthal

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  1. Weidong Lu
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  2. David S. Rosenthal
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Correspondence to Weidong Lu.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cancer Pain

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Lu, W., Rosenthal, D.S. Acupuncture for Cancer Pain and Related Symptoms. Curr Pain Headache Rep 17, 321 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-013-0321-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-013-0321-3

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