For the study, researchers conducted a randomized control trial with 190 women with breast cancer. The study sought to compare the efficacy of acupuncture combined with education on self-care versus self-care enhancement alone as treatments for hot flashes. Half of the women in the study were over the age of 49. After the treatments, patients scored hot flashes by frequency and severity. The group that received acupuncture and enhanced self-care education had significantly lower hot flash scores than the group that only received enhanced self-care education.
The results carry some significance because many breast cancer patients can’t receive hormone replacement therapy for hot flashes and are left with restricted options.
“Women with breast cancer should know that acupuncture together with enhanced self-care for at least three months can improve hot flashes with an overall benefit on their quality of life,” study author Giorgia Razzini of Civil Hospital in Carpi, Italy, told Reuters.
Jun Mao, MD, chief of the integrative medicine service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, told Reuters that while the study can’t unlock the reasons why acupuncture improves hot flash symptoms, it does fall in line with previous research — his own included — that suggest the benefits may stem from the act of the procedure itself and patient engagement in care.
“I think it is gradually being introduced into many cancer centers in the U.S. for managing hot flashes in women with breast cancer,” Dr. Mao told Reuters. He did add the procedure wouldn’t necessarily be covered by insurance.
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