Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Feb;26(2):657-665.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-017-3881-7. Epub 2017 Sep 17.

Acupuncture for reduction of symptom burden in multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a randomized sham-controlled trial

Gary Deng  1 , Sergio Giralt  2 , David J Chung  2 , Heather Landau  2 , Jonathan Siman  3 , Benjamin Search  3 , Marci Coleton  3 , Emily Vertosick  4 , Nathan Shapiro  4 , Christine Chien  4 , Xin S Wang  5 , Barrie Cassileth  3 , Jun J Mao  3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Acupuncture for reduction of symptom burden in multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a randomized sham-controlled trial

Gary Deng et al. Support Care Cancer. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) is potentially curative for a number of hematologic malignancies, but is associated with high symptom burden. We conducted a randomized sham-controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate efficacy and safety of acupuncture as an integrative treatment for managing common symptoms during HCT.

Methods: Adult patients with multiple myeloma undergoing high-dose melphalan followed by autologous HCT (AHCT) were randomized to receive either true or sham acupuncture once daily for 5 days starting the day after chemotherapy. Patients and clinical evaluators, but not acupuncturists, were blinded to group assignment. Symptom burden, the primary outcome was assessed with the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) at baseline, during transplantation, and at 15 and 30 days post transplantation.

Results: Among 60 participants, true acupuncture produced nonsignificant reductions in overall MDASI core symptom scores and symptom interference scores during transplantation (P = .4 and .3, respectively), at 15 days (P = .10 and .3), and at 30 days posttransplantation (P = .2 and .4) relative to sham. However, true acupuncture was significantly more efficacious in reducing nausea, lack of appetite, and drowsiness at 15 days (P = .042, .025, and .010, respectively). Patients receiving sham acupuncture were more likely to increase pain medication use posttransplantation (odds ratio 5.31, P = .017).

Conclusions: Acupuncture was well tolerated with few attributable adverse events. True acupuncture may prevent escalation of symptoms including nausea, lack of appetite, and drowsiness experienced by patients undergoing AHCT, and reduce the use of pain medications. These findings need to be confirmed in a future definitive study.

Trial registration: NCT01811862.

Keywords: Acupuncture; Complementary therapies; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Integrative medicine; Multiple myeloma; Symptom management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest Dr. Giralt has received honoraria from Celgene, Takeda, Amgen, Jazz, and Sanofi; served in a consulting/advisory role for Celgene, Takeda, Sanofi, Jazz, Amgen, and Janssen; received research funding from Celgene and Takeda. Dr. Landau has received honoraria from Takeda; served in a consulting/advisory role for Onyx, Spectrum, Takeda, and Prothena; received research funding from Onyx. The remaining authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT diagram of study design and enrollment
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
MDASI symptom scores from baseline to day 30 for patients in the acupuncture arm (green line), the sham arm (red line), and among a group of historical control patients receiving no acupuncture treatment (blue line).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Copelan EA (2006) Hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. N Engl J Med 354(17):1813–1826. 10.1056/NEJMra052638 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gertz MA, Dingli D (2014) How we manage autologous stem cell transplantation for patients with multiple myeloma. Blood 124(6): 882–890. 10.1182/blood-2014-03-544759 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Giralt S (2011) Stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma: current and future status. Hematol Am Soc Hematol Educ Program 2011:191–196. 10.1182/asheducation-2011.1.191 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anderson KO, Giralt SA, Mendoza TR, Brown JO, Neumann JL, Mobley GM, Wang XS, Cleeland CS (2007) Symptom burden in patients undergoing autologous stem-cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 39(12):759–766. 10.1038/sj.bmt.1705664 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Campagnaro E, Saliba R, Giralt S, Roden L, Mendoza F, Aleman A, Cleeland C, Weber D, Brown J, Anderson KO (2008) Symptom burden after autologous stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma. Cancer 112(7): 1617–1624. 10.1002/cncr.23299 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data