Over the past several decades, an increasing number of the US public are using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to maintain or improve health and well being. It is estimated that within the US alone, the use of CAM has grown 380 percent since 1990 and that the public is now spending billions of dollars per year for these therapies. A large percentage of the practice and use of these methods is focused on cancer. Whether the CAM use is aimed at reducing one's risk of developing cancer or improving the quality of life of a cancer patient during treatment or at the end of life, the public focus on CAM and cancer has created a driving force for cancer centers to address the efficacy and science of these methods. At the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, CAM clinical services have been established and integrated within the oncology practice. Acupuncture, massage therapy, Reiki, spirituality programs, mind body techniques, herbal consults and a number of other clinical programs are offered through the newly established Zakim Center for Integrated Therapies. The issues of palliative care in the end of life of a cancer patient are extremely important as currently, the majority of cancer patients do not receive adequate palliative care. In this proposal, we are addressing the use of' acupuncture by traditional Chinese clinicians to address the quality of life and symptoms of patients with incurable cancer. Acupuncture has been shown to be effective in the treatment of pain and nausea and has also been shown to improve one's general well being. Acupuncture has some effectiveness in anxiety and depression as well. We seek to determine if studying such an intervention be feasible in ambulatory patients at the end of life? The study population will be women with recurrent metastatic ovarian cancer and similar patients with advanced cancer who are ambulatory and receiving conventional palliative care. These patients will continue to receive high quality conventional clinical interventions, including chemotherapy and pain and symptom reduction programs, but in addition receive acupuncture. Evaluation tools such as Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale for Cancer (SLDS-C), Brief Pain Inventory and Rotterdam Symptom Check List will be piloted to determine appropriate end points of the study as well as the feasibility of end of life patients completing the surveys. The Behavioral Research Center of the American Cancer Society will provide additional in-kind support for data analysis and evidence of effectiveness of Quality of Life measures for end of life evaluation.
| Dean-Clower, Elizabeth; Doherty-Gilman, Anne M; Keshaviah, Aparna et al. (2010) Acupuncture as palliative therapy for physical symptoms and quality of life for advanced cancer patients. Integr Cancer Ther 9:158-67 |
