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Acupuncture Treatment For Stomach Cancer
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is cancer developing from the lining of the stomach. Its early symptoms include heartburn, abdominal pain, nausea and loss of appetite. Later signs and symptoms include weight loss, yellow skin and whites of the eyes, vomiting, difficulty swallowing, including blood in the stool among others. The most common cause of stomach cancer is infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which accounts for more than 60% of cases. Other causes include smoking, diets with pickled vegetables, obesity and other risk factors.1
RESEARCH
Before initiating any treatment for stomach cancer, you should have a clear diagnosis actually before deciding the most appropriate options. There are patterns that contribute to the development of stomach cancer in traditional chinese medicine. The disease patterns of stomach cancer are spleen qi deficiency, stomach food stagnation, stomach Fire, stomach cold, stomach blood stagnation, stomach qi deficiency, and phlegm stagnation.2 In addition, acupressure is simple, noninvasive, safe, and economical procedure for improving the comfort of patients after surgery for gastric cancer. Acupressure at the P-6 and ST-36 acupoints can improve postoperative comfort by alleviating pain and decreasing the time until first flatus.3 The following acupuncture treatment reduce stomach cancer symptoms induced by chemotherapy and improve quality of life in patients with gastric cancer. The acupoints recommended to stimulate are ST-36, ST-37, ST-25, SP-6 and PC-6. A 30-minute session of acupuncture daily for 2 weeks (14 days) is recommended. In this vein, acupuncture is safe for patients with gastric cancer receiving chemotherapy and reduces chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in patients with gastric cancer, thereby improving quality of life for patients without side effects.4
Footnotes
- Gastric cancer treatment – cancer.gov – 2017, https://www.cancer.gov/types/stomach/patient/stomach-treatment-pdq#section/all
- Chinese Herbal and Acupuncture Treatment protocols for stomach cancer – theory.yinyanghouse.com – 2017, https://theory.yinyanghouse.com/conditions-treated/alternative-natural-options-for-stomach-cancer
- Acupressure improves the postoperative comfort of gastric cancer patients – sciencedirect.com – 2015, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229915000552
- The effect of acupuncture on chemotherapy-associated gastrointestinal symptoms in gastric cancer – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5330633/