Review: acupuncture and mind-body therapies may be effective for cancer related pain
Q Are complementary and alternative therapies effective for reducing cancer related pain?
METHODS
Data sources:
Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, AMED, and Cochrane Library (all to August 2005); PubMed; and reference lists.
Study selection and assessment:
randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated complementary and alternative therapies (defined by the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) for cancer related pain. Studies assessing procedural or post-surgical pain were excluded. 18 RCTs (n = 1499) met the selection criteria. Quality of individual trials was assessed using the Jadad scale, which considered randomisation method, blinding, and dropouts.
Outcomes:
subjective pain.
MAIN RESULTS
No meta-analysis was done because of …
