Acupuncture can relieve breast cancer patients from hot flashes

A new Italian research has claimed that acupuncture can provide relief from hot flashes to breast cancer suffers. The women diagnosed with breast cancer are often tired of hot flashes that become part of their life. The researchers of the study discovered that regular acupuncture session coupled up with good lifestyle could reduce their level discomfort in everyday life.

“Acupuncture together with enhanced self-care for three months is effective in reducing hot flashes in women with breast cancer”, said study author Giorgia Razzini, a clinical trial project manager in the oncology unit of Ospedale di Carpi (Carpi Hospital), in Bologna, Italy.

Razzini added that since hormone treatment for breast cancer intensifies the hot flashes, acupuncture could give strength to patients to go through therapies. The study was published online on March 28 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

As part of the study, the team of Italian researchers studied 190 breast cancer patients with average age of 49. They were facing moderate or worse hot flashes while undergoing treatment at five cancer hospitals and one primary health care center in northern Italy between 2010 and 2013.

The patients were divided into two groups. One which consists of 105 patients was told to follow a three-month regimen of self-care advice on diet, exercise and psychological support. On the contrary, another group of 85 patients was advised same thing, but along with 10 half-hour weekly sessions of acupuncture.

Meanwhile, the experiment, the participants kept record of hot flashes that occurred to them. Later after a period of three months, researchers assessed hot flash experiences for changing severity and frequency for up to six months following the span of three months.

The researchers concluded that the group that received acupuncture had 50% lower hot flash score than those in non-acupuncture group. The former group received more advantages in context of quality of life, physical and mental health with no serious side-effects.