ReviewSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2026
Integrating English and Chinese evidence on acupuncture and moxibustion for cancer-related fatigue (CRF): a decade of research and clinical recommendations.
Review in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment and non-pharmacological interventions targeting the nervous system: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis review evaluates the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion for CRF management and provides evidence-informed clinical recommendations. The review intends to answer the questions: (1) How effective and safe are acupuncture and moxibustion in managing CRF? (2) What clinical recommendations can be provided from the evidence?
methodsA systematic literature search across seven English and Chinese databases, identifying 13 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2015 and 2025, involving 919 participants with various cancer types.
resultsAcupuncture and/or moxibustion significantly alleviated CRF with p-values ranging from < 0.001 to 0.050. In contrast, control groups demonstrated either no statistically significant change or a significantly lower magnitude of improvement, with clinical response rates (34.60%-66.67%) consistently inferior to those observed in the intervention groups (68.00% to 86.67%). Commonly selected acupoints included Zusanli (ST36), Qihai (CV6), and Guanyuan (CV4). Treatment protocols were categorized into short-term (≤ 3 weeks), cycle-based (synchronized with chemotherapy cycles), and long-term (up to 6 months), with needle retention times of 10 to 30 min. All studies reported high safety profiles, with no adverse events. CRF was measured using validated instruments such as the Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS), Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue (FACT-F), showing consistent improvements.
conclusionAcupuncture and moxibustion are safe and effective for CRF and may be integrated into supportive oncology care alongside exercise, mind-body intervention, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to enhance quality of life in oncology populations. However, limited sample sizes and methodological heterogeneity highlight the need for larger and well-designed studies to strengthen the evidence.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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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.