Acupuncture: Relief from Chronic Lymphedema and Other Radiation Therapy Complications?
Last week, we discussed some of the wide-ranging symptoms of radiation-induced tissue fibrosis, or Radiation Fibrosis Syndrome (RFS), and how acupuncture is emerging as a post-therapy option for minimizing, and even treating, many cancer-treatment complications.
Since radiation therapy puts patients at permanently increased risks of fibrosis in the lymph nodes, where scarring and adhesions in lymphatics and blood vessels impair circulation and cause fluid build-up, lymphedema is among the most common and difficult to treat complications of radiation therapy.
Promising pilot study inspires larger, on-going clinical trial
In a 2013 pilot study published in the journal Cancer, researchers found significant and encouraging results suggesting both the immediate and long-term efficacy of acupuncture on women diagnosed with breast-cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). This swelling of the arms, usually the result of lymph node removal in the armpits due to radiation damage or the spread of cancer, is often painful, and clinicians agree there are few good traditional treatment options for sufferers.
The good news, according to head researchers–the Chiefs of Integrative Medicine and Breast Cancer Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering–is that the pilot study showed not only that “acupuncture as a treatment for lymphedema is safe and well tolerated,” but that it provided “strong impetus for the randomized controlled trial that is now under way.”
The pilot study saw 33 participants suffering from BCRL undergo acupuncture treatments twice weekly for four weeks, with 33% of participants seeing significant (greater than 30% reduction in arm circumference) results, and another 55% seeing more minor positive results.
What’s more, after only a single month of bi-weekly acupuncture treatments, participants in the study saw long-lasting reductions in swelling, with the study checking in several weeks after the regular treatments had ceased.
The sessions themselves consisted of acupuncturists inserting 14 needles at sites on the affected areas of the arm, as well as unaffected areas on the arms, legs, and torso.
Positive results: inspiring future study
In addition to the positive results found by a significant group of the participants in the trial, it’s also worth noting that no serious adverse infections, exacerbations, or other negative side effects were reported by any participants, either in the short-term, or in the 6 months of interviews that followed the treatments.
In a field of post-cancer care that has historically offered few effective, lasting, and sustainable treatments to chronic lymphedema, the ongoing clinical trials and encouraging results of recent pilot studies in acupuncture is certainly cause for celebration.
Next week, we’ll be looking at other studies where acupuncture has helped participants suffering from different complications of radiation therapy. In the meantime, get in touch if you or a loved one is suffering from chronic swelling or inflammation. We’d love to walk you through our treatment options.
