Curative effect of acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine on cancer pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cancer and cancer pain caused by treatment have brought great challenges. With the increasing number of papers on the treatment of cancer pain with acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine, this paper aims to evaluate the evidence of the association of acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine with reduction in cancer pain. METHOD: Four English databases and 4 Chinese databases were systematically searched from the establishment of the database to September 18, 2024. Randomized clinical trials that compared acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine with acupuncture alone, analgesic therapy, or other usual care for cancer pain were included. Data were screened and extracted independently using predesigned forms. The quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was appraised with the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool with Rvman 5.4 software. According to the different types of data,count data used risk ratioas the effect sizes, and Measurement data used Mean difference (MD)as the effect sizes and standardized MD. RESULTS: Ten RCTs (comprising 884 participants) were incorporated into the systematic review, with data from all ten trials included in the meta-analysis. Findings from 7 of the trials indicated that the combination of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, when compared to other forms of care, led to a decrease in pain intensity. A good analgesic efficacy was seen by using the acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine in 6 RCTs (MD, 1.22 points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 1.32;Ⅰ2 = 13%). Two RCTs showed that acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine and tertiary analgesic therapy could shorten the onset time of analgesics(MD, -14.82 points;95% CI, -16.80 to -12.82;Ⅰ2 = 0%); and 3 RCTs increased the duration of analgesia(MD, 2.40 points;95% CI, 2.01 to 3.82;Ⅰ2 = 95%). An improvement in the quality of life of the cancer patients was seen when acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine was used in 5 RCTs (MD, 4.68 points;95% CI, 3.69 to 5.66;Ⅰ2 = 0%). CONCLUSION: The systematic review and meta-analysis conducted that a significant reduction in cancer pain was observed in patients who received acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine, compared to those who received other treatment.