Acupuncture combined with methylcobalamin for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients with multiple myeloma

BMC Cancer

Research Article

Guoqing Wei¹  Hongfei Shi¹  He Huang¹  Weiyan Zheng¹  Xiaoyan Han¹  Gaofeng Zheng¹  Jie Sun¹  Wenjun Wu¹  Zhen Cai¹  Jingsong He¹  Jimin Shi¹  Lijuan Wang² 

[1] Multiple Myeloma Center, Bone Marrow Transplantation Center, Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 79 Qingchun Road, 310003, Hangzhou, China;Multiple Myeloma Center, Bone Marrow Transplantation Center, Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, No. 79 Qingchun Road, 310003, Hangzhou, China;Present Address: Department of Hematology, Hematology Laboratory, Linyi People’s Hospital, Shandong University, 276002, Linyi, China;

关键词: Acupuncture;    CIPN;    Methylcobalamin;    Multiple myeloma;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12885-016-3037-z

 received in 2016-03-09, accepted in 2016-12-22,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundChemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) seriously affects the quality of life of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) as well as the response rate to chemotherapy. Acupuncture has a potential role in the treatment of CIPN, but at present there have been no randomized clinical research studies to analyze the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of CIPN, particularly in MM patients.MethodsThe MM patients (104 individuals) who met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned into a solely methylcobalamin therapy group (500 μg intramuscular methylcobalamin injections every other day for 20 days; ten injections) followed by 2 months of 500 μg oral methylcobalamin administration, three times per day) and an acupuncture combined with methylcobalamin (Met + Acu) group (methylcobalamin used the same way as above accompanied by three cycles of acupuncture). Of the patients, 98 out of 104 completed the treatment and follow-ups. There were 49 patients in each group. The evaluating parameters included the visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity (Fact/GOG-Ntx) questionnaire scores, and electromyographic (EMG) nerve conduction velocity (NCV) determinations. We evaluated the changes of the parameters in each group before and after the therapies and made a comparison between the two groups.ResultsAfter 84 days (three cycles) of therapy, the pain was significantly alleviated in both groups, with a significantly higher decrease in the acupuncture treated group (P < 0.01). The patients’ daily activity evaluated by Fact/GOG-Ntx questionnaires significantly improved in the Met + Acu group (P < 0.001). The NCV in the Met + Acu group improved significantly while amelioration in the control group was not observed.ConclusionsThe present study suggests that acupuncture combined with methylcobalamin in the treatment of CIPN showed a better outcome than methylcobalamin administration alone.Trial registrationChina Clinical Trials Register (registration no. ChiCTR-INR-16009079, registration date August 24, 2016).

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017