Cancers

No controlled study has been reported on the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of cancer itself. However, acupuncture still has uses in cancer treatments. One is to relieve cancer pain, and the other is to control the adverse reactions to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. For cancer pain, it has been reported that acupuncture provided an immediate analgesic effect similar to that of codeine and pethidine, with a more marked effect after use for two months. The effect was comparable with that achieved using the analgesic steps recommended by WHO. For radiotherapy and chemotherapy, acupuncture can greatly lessen the adverse reactions in the digestive and nervous systems, as well as providing protection against damage to haematopoiesis.