Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22447366›Full record

SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2012

Acupuncture for the treatment of cancer pain: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials.

Tae-Young Choi, Myeong Soo Lee, Tae-Hun Kim, Christopher Zaslawski, Edzard Ernst

Abstract readComparative StudyMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
43citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
33.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

43 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 115 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Acupuncture for cancer pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
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  8. Survivorship: pain version 1.2014.Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN · 2014
    Guideline
  9. Acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2013
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Tae-Young ChoiMedical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, 305-811, South Korea.
Myeong Soo Lee
Tae-Hun Kim
Christopher Zaslawski
Edzard Ernst
Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine · KRUniversity of Exeter · GBUniversity of Technology Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeControlling cancer-related pain is an important component in the palliative care of cancer patients. The objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating cancer pain.

methodsFourteen databases were searched from their inception through April 2011. Randomised clinical trials (RCTs) were included if acupuncture was used as the sole treatment or as a part of a combination therapy for cancer pain. Studies were included if they were controlled with a placebo or controlled against a drug-therapy or no-treatment group. The Cochrane criteria were used to assess the risk of bias.

resultsA total of 15 RCTs met our inclusion criteria. All of the included RCTs were associated with a high risk of bias. The majority of acupuncture treatments or combination therapies with analgesics exhibited favourable effects compared with conventional treatments in individual studies. However, a meta-analysis suggested that acupuncture did not generate a better effect than drug therapy (n = 886; risk ratio (RR), 1.12; 95% CI 0.98 to 1.28; P = 0.09). The comparison between acupuncture plus drug therapy and drug therapy alone demonstrated a significant difference in favour of the combination therapy (n = 437; RR, 1.36; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.64; P = 0.003). The results of this systematic review provide no strong evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in the management of cancer pain.

conclusionThe total number of RCTs included in the analysis and their methodological quality were too low to draw firm conclusions. Future rigorous RCTs will be necessary to assess the clinical efficacy of acupuncture in this area.

Indexed as

Acupuncture TherapyAnalgesicsCombined Modality TherapyHumansNeoplasmsPainPain ManagementPalliative CareRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicTreatment OutcomeAnalgesics

Identifiers

PMID22447366
OpenAlexW2102524947

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.