ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2012
Acupuncture as treatment of hot flashes and the possible role of calcitonin gene-related Peptide.
Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- How effective is acupuncture in treating hot flashes in breast cancer patients? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Chinese herbal formulae for the treatment of menopausal hot flushes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Acupuncture for menopausal hot flushes.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP): Biology, Signaling, Pathophysiological Roles, and Therapeutic Applications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Acupuncture in hematologic malignancies and hematopoietic cell transplantation.Blood reviews · 2022Review
- Nonhormonal Hot Flash Management for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Review
- Modulation of neurological pathways by Salvia officinalis and its dependence on manufacturing process and plant parts used.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2019Article
- Acupuncture: could it become everyday practice in oncology?Contemporary oncology (Poznan, Poland) · 2016Review
- Bee pollen and honey for the alleviation of hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms in breast cancer patients.Molecular and clinical oncology · 2015Article
- Long term follow up of breast cancer patients treated with acupuncture for hot flashes.SpringerPlus · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The mechanisms behind hot flashes in menopausal women are not fully understood. The flashes in women are probably preceded by and actually initiated by a sudden downward shift in the set point for the core body temperature in the thermoregulatory center that is affected by sex steroids, β-endorphins, and other central neurotransmitters. Treatments that influence these factors may be expected to reduce hot flashes. Since therapy with sex steroids for hot flashes has appeared to cause a number of side effects and risks and women with hot flashes and breast cancer as well as men with prostate cancer and hot flashes are prevented from sex steroid therapy there is a great need for alternative therapies. Acupuncture affecting the opioid system has been suggested as an alternative treatment option for hot flashes in menopausal women and castrated men. The heat loss during hot flashes may be mediated by the potent vasodilator and sweat gland activator calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) the concentration of which increases in plasma during flashes in menopausal women and, according to one study, in castrated men with flushes. There is also evidence for connections between the opioid system and the release of CGRP. In this paper we discuss acupuncture as a treatment alternative for hot flashes and the role of CGRP in this context.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.