Effectiveness of acupuncture in rehabilitation of physical and functional disorders of women undergoing breast cancer surgery

• Published in: Supportive care in cancer 2016-06, Vol.24 (6), p.2491-2496
• Main Authors: Giron, Patricia Santolia, Haddad, Cinira Assad Simão, Lopes de Almeida Rizzi, Samantha Karlla, Nazário, Afonso Celso Pinto, Facina, Gil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Acupuncture Therapy - methods; Adult; Aged; Analysis; Arm - physiopathology; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - physiopathology; Breast Neoplasms - psychology; Breast Neoplasms - rehabilitation; Breast Neoplasms - surgery; Cancer surgery; Care and treatment; Depression - etiology; Depression - rehabilitation; Effectiveness studies; Female; Humans; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Nursing; Nursing Research; Oncology; Original Article; Pain Measurement; Pain Medicine; Range of Motion, Articular; Rehabilitation; Rehabilitation Medicine; Surgery; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0941-4355; 1433-7339
• DOI: 10.1007/s00520-015-3054-5

Purpose The purpose of the study is to verify the effectiveness of acupuncture in rehabilitation of physical and functional disorders of women undergoing breast cancer surgery on the following parameters: pain, range of motion, upper limb function, and depressive symptoms. Methods The following are the inclusion criteria: women aged more than 18 years with scapular girdle and upper limb pain after 3 months of surgery and with pain ≥3 in visual analog scale. Patients were divided into two randomized groups which received weekly treatment during 10 sessions. Kinesiotherapy group (G1)—treated with a predefined kinesiotherapy protocol of 30 min. Group Acupuncture + Kinesiotherapy (G2)—treated with the same kinesiotherapy group protocol followed by another 30 min of acupuncture, used in predefined points. Both groups performed physical examination and answered the upper limb function and depressive symptoms questionnaires. Results Forty-eight patients completed the treatment, 24 in each group. Regarding the pain, the two groups had statistically significant improvement in all evaluated moments. In the analysis of depression, it improved significantly only in G1 in the comparison between the first and the tenth session. The upper limb function had improvement in G1 only in the comparison between the first and the tenth session and in G2, in the three evaluation moments. The range of motion (ROM) showed improvement in all evaluated movements. Conclusions There was no difference between groups. Both groups showed statistically significant improvement of the items assessed: pain, depression, upper limb function, and ADM, and there was no difference between them.