Breve revisión de la acupuntura en la fatiga del paciente oncológico: una revisión exploratoria

Introduction

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is defined as the persistent feeling of exhaustion related to the course of the disease or cancer treatment. Currently, there are few studies that determine the impact of acupuncture in this condition.

Objective

To explore the current medical evidence about the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the control of CRF.

Methodology

Exploratory review of the literature in PubMed and Scopus, including publications without time limit in English and Spanish language.

Results

In the 16 documents included were identified randomized clinical trials (n = 10), retrospective cohort studies (n = 17), case report (n = 2), literature review (n = 2), cross section (n = 1) and qualitative longitudinal study (n = 1), with a total study population of 937 patients. Acupuncture showed a significant reduction in fatigue in patients undergoing cancer treatment and in post-chemotherapy states, although there are few publications with experimental and/or observational data.

Conclusion

Acupuncture has zero adverse effects and benefits in the control of CRF, in addition favorable impact on sleep disorders, anxiety and depression which are determinants in the clinical course of fatigue. Therefore, the use of acupuncture could be used concomitantly with standard western therapy accord in the intensity of the symptoms that the patient is presenting. The studies are limited and without statistical power, therefore the review was based mainly on observational studies with a small number of subjects and analyzed for a short time.