Acupuncture's Effects on Relieving Symptoms for Post-Radiation Cystitis and Prostatitis

by Elisabete Alves de Souza

Abstract Background: The aim of this study was to assess the response to acupuncture of patients who had moderate- to-severe urinary symptoms persisting after 12 months following the completion of radiation therapy for prostate cancer treatment.
Methods: A RCT (n=10) was conducted over an eight week period using three arms (verum, sham/ placebo, and control). Subjects received two treatments during week one followed by one treatment each week thereafter for a total of nine treatments using points on kidney, bladder, spleen, liver, and lung meridians expected to treat cystitis/prostatitis. Outcome measures were assessed with an International Prostate Symptom Score every 2 weeks during treatment and every two weeks after treatment for a total of 16 weeks. A paired t-test was performed to determine significant changes in IPSS before and after the 4-months treatment period in the randomized arms.
Results: Both verum acupuncture and sham acupuncture treatment appear to improve the IPSS scores over the 4-month test period.
Conclusions: Due to the very small sample sizes and large score variances within the groups, it was impossible to say whether the Verum acupuncture treatment protocol or Sham protocol gave more improvement.
Keywords: acupuncture, radiation prostatitis, radiation cystitis, prostate cancer.

See this article on American Acupuncturist Vol 57 - Fall edition, page 19 http://www.aaaomonline.org/resource/resmgr/americanacupuncturist/aa_fall_vol_57.pdf