April 2007

Massage and acupuncture reduce pain after cancer

A study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco, found massage and acupuncture to be effective in decreasing pain and depression following surgery in cancer patients.

The findings of the randomized controlled clinical trial are reported in the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

The study compared the post-operative symptoms of pain, nausea, and mood, as well as cost of symptom-related medications in two groups of hospitalized patients during the first three days after cancer-related surgery. One group underwent a combination of massage and acupuncture in addition to traditional treatment through medication, and the other group only had traditional treatment.

According to Wolf Mehling, MD, lead author and UCSF assistant professor of family and community medicine, 40 percent of people with cancer are treated with complementary and alternative medicine therapies. He said these therapies strongly improved patients undergoing prostate and testicular cancer, or gastro-intestinal and gynecological cancer surgery. However, he said these therapies were not as beneficial for patients treated for kidney or bladder cancer.

Mehling said no cost-saving benefits were found, except for a reduction in anti-anxiety/sleep medication costs.

The study was performed at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Source: University of California, San Francisco, www.pub.ucsf.edu

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