Acupuncture-assisted treatment of adverse reactions to chemotherapy for rectal cancer

In recent years, the incidence of rectal cancer in my country has shown a steady increasing trend. Generally, patients need to take chemotherapy to completely kill cancer cells. At the same time, patients will also experience various adverse reactions in the gastrointestinal tract, urinary system and systemic area. Patients can use acupuncture therapy to relieve physical and mental pain under the guidance or operation of a transfer acupuncturist.

Adjunctive treatment for gastrointestinal reactions

Symptoms: Patients experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, anorexia, aversion to greasy food, and diarrhea.

Acupoints: Neiguan, Quchi and Zusanli.

Method: The manipulation mainly consists of lifting, inserting and twisting. The needle is retained for 15 to 30 minutes. It is performed before the start of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and once every other day.

Adjunctive treatment for urinary tract reactions

Symptoms: frequent urination, urgent urination, and painful urination, which may be accompanied by blood in the stool and a feeling of tenesmus.

Acupoints: bilateral Hegu, Tianshu, Shangjuxu, Zusanli; Qihai, Juxu.

Method: Use the method of equal tonification and equal drainage. After getting the qi, retain the needle for 20 minutes. Do it once a day. One course of treatment is 1 to 2 weeks.

Adjunctive treatment for systemic reactions

Symptoms: The patient's body resistance is reduced, fatigue, susceptibility to infection, etc.

Acupoints: Shenshu, Mingmen, Gaohuang, and Zusanli.

Method: Professional physicians use helium-neon laser with a laser output power of 3 to 8 mW, irradiate 1 m, irradiate each acupoint for 3 minutes, irradiate once a day, and irradiate each acupoint no more than 15 times.