Acupuncture offers relief from radiotherapy side effect, research shows

Patients suffering from a distressing side-effect of radiotherapy for head and neck cancers can benefit from acupuncture treatment, reveals a new study published today (Wednesday 24 October 2012). Patients who have received radiotherapy for head and neck cancer often suffer from the unpleasant and distressing side-effect of a dry mouth, caused by damage to their salivary glands from the radiation. Now, a new study has shown that acupuncture can relieve the symptoms of dry mouth (known as xerostomia). The findings from the largest trial yet to investigate the benefit of acupuncture to xerostomia sufferers are published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology . The study involved the work of University of Sussex-based senior research fellow Valerie Jenkins, from the psychosocial oncology group - SHORE-C (Sussex Health Outcomes Research and Education in Cancer) at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. Jenkins managed the study alongside Royal Sussex County Hospital consultant clinical oncologist Richard Simcock, who is also one of the study's authors. Around half a million people worldwide develop head and neck cancer each year and, at present, there are few effective treatments for dry mouth, which is a common side effect of radiotherapy; as many as 41 per cent of patients can still be suffering from it five years later.