Loading...Rated Acupoints
Acupuncture treatment for Bladder Cancer
Rated Acupoints
2
Rated Acupoints
3
Rated Acupoints
4
Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder.1 It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body.2 Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. Risk factors for bladder cancer include smoking, family history, prior radiation therapy, frequent bladder infections, and exposure to certain chemicals. The most common type is transitional cell carcinoma. Other types include squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.3 It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body.4
RESEARCH
The acupoints S-2 and BL-59 are useful for treating bladder cancer. This treatment aims to nourish yin, increase the blood circulation, and clear toxic from the body. In addition, when dealing with cancer, acupuncture treatment reduces the bad effect of the cancer treatment like radiotherapy or chemotherapy.5
The use of acupuncture is also a vital tool that can be utilized for those addicted to smoking, thereby reducing the associated risks of bladder cancer itself. The dreaded nausea and vomiting which commonly occurs in some patients undergoing chemotherapy and inevitably, with the use of certain classes of agents, can often be worse than the disease itself. In those being treated for bladder cancer, for example, acupuncture has been shown to reduce nausea and vomiting experienced during chemotherapy. Moreover, using acupuncture to manage pain in cancer patients has been extremely valuable in reducing the amount of narcotics given, and therefore the side effects seen with such treatments like confusion, disturbed mentation, behavioral changes, nausea and severe constipation.6
That acupuncture is a powerful tool for general pain control is widely known. Less known is its success use in bladder cancer-related pain as well.7 In addition, new discoveries find that herbs commonly used by licensed acupuncturists have important anti-cancer abilities. New research concludes that the Chinese Medicine herbal formula Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan powerfully and selectively kills cancer cells while exhibiting minimal toxicity to normal cells. It was discovered that the herbal formula potently inhibits the proliferation of bladder cancer cells when administered directly into the bladder. They also found that Gui Zhi Fu Ling Wan selectively kills cancer cells while leaving normal bladder cells unharmed and that the herbal formula prevents the proliferation of cancer cells by blocking cell cycle replication, a process by which cells divide and then duplicate.8 The use of acupuncture is also a vital tool that can be utilized for those addicted to smoking, thereby reducing the associated risks of bladder cancer.9
Footnotes
- Bladder Cancer Treatment – cancer.gov – 2017, https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/patient/bladder-treatment-pdq#section/all
- Cancer – who.int – 2017, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/
- Bladder Cancer Treatment – cancer.gov – 2017, https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder/patient/bladder-treatment-pdq#section/all
- Bladder cancer – cancer.gov – 2017, https://www.cancer.gov/types/bladder
- Chinese Herbal and Acupuncture Treatment Protocols for Bladder Cancer – yinyanghouse.com – 2010, https://theory.yinyanghouse.com/conditions-treated/alternative-natural-options-for-bladder-cancer
- The Role of Acupuncture in Urology – choicespc.net – 2002, http://choicespc.net/the-role-of-acupuncture-in-urology/
- The Role of Acupuncture in Urology – choicespc.net – 2002, http://choicespc.net/the-role-of-acupuncture-in-urology/
- Chinese Herbal Medicine Fights Bladder Cancer – healthcmi.com – 2013, http://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/726-herbbladder
- Effect of acupuncture on smoking cessation or reduction – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – 2001, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11676576