Acupuncture used as a relief of cancer treatment side effect: dry mouth.
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 10:56AM An ancient therapy could prove effective at relieving a common side effect of cancer treatment, a small, new study shows.
Acupuncture was able to reduce dry mouth in people who were receiving radiation therapy to treat their head and neck cancers, reported researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center.
Dry mouth, also known as xerostomia, occurs when there is not enough saliva in the mouth.
"The medical implications are quite profound in terms of quality of life, because while chronic dry mouth may sound benign, it has a significant impact on sleeping, eating and speaking," study researcher Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of MD Anderson's Integrative Medicine Program, said in a statement. "Without saliva, there can be an increase in microbial growth, possible bone infection and irreversible nutritional deficits."
Researchers examined 86 people with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were undergoing radiotherapy for their cancer. Forty of the patients received acupuncture three times a week while they received their radiotherapy over seven weeks, while 46 just had regular care.
Researchers monitored the study participants' saliva flow using a Xerostomia Questionnaire -- a score under 30 meant that dry mouth was mild or completely gone.