American researchers investigating whether acupuncture helps chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, have conducted a three-arm randomised trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. A group of 75 cancer patients were recruited. All had completed chemotherapy at least three months prior, and were experiencing moderate to severe neuropathy in the form of numbness, tingling or pain. Patients were randomly assigned to either real acupuncture, sham acupuncture or usual care. Acupuncture was given in the form of ten sessions over eight weeks, and biweekly for the first fortnight.
The real acupuncture group exhibited statistically significant improvements in quality of life, anxiety, insomnia and fatigue.
(Health-Related Quality of Life in Cancer Survivors with Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Oncologist, November 2021.)