Oncology Medical News about radiation therapy-related nausea; acupressure bands, radiation therapy, nausea, vomiting, quality of life

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Acupressure bands are effective in reducing radiation therapy-related nausea
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 07/22/09

Roscoe JA et al. - In a trial to investigate the effectiveness of acupressure bands in controlling radiation therapy-induced nausea and to test whether an informational manipulation designed to increase expectation of efficacy would enhance effectiveness of the acupressure bands, it appears that acupressure bands are an effective, low-cost, nonintrusive, well-accepted, and safe adjunct to standard antiemetic medication. An attempt to boost the efficacy of the acupressure bands by providing positive information was not successful.

Methods

Pts who experienced nausea at prior treatments were randomized to either standard care (Arm 1, n=29) or standard care plus acupressure bands with either neutral (Arm 2, n=30) or positive (Arm 3, n=29) information regarding the efficacy of the bands.

Results

Pts reported nausea for 2 days prior to randomization (baseline) and for 5 days following using a 7-point semantic rating scale (1=not nauseated to 7=extremely nauseated).
Pts in Arms 2 and 3 combined reported greater reduction in average nausea than pts in Arm 1.
This equates to a 23.8% decrease in nausea in the band groups vs a 4.8% decrease in the control group, a 19% difference.
The informational manipulation failed to alter efficacy expectations and there was no statistically significant difference in nausea between pts in Arms 2 and 3.

Exclusive Author Commentary
Joseph A. Roscoe, 07/20/09

Researchers and clinicians are increasingly aware of the role of expectation as a critical psychological factor that influences the development of nausea following cancer treatment, both for the better and for the worse. The downside is that patients who expect to have treatment-related nausea are more likely to have nausea than patients who do not expect to have nausea. The upside is that nausea expectancies are malleable and interventions that positively affect such expectancies can help reduce nausea. The efficacy of the acupressure bands in reducing treatment-related nausea is likely an example of this as research has linked their effectiveness to expectancy/placebo effects.

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