Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of filiform fire needling on moderate and severe pain in advanced cancer.
Methods: A total of 66 patients with moderate and severe pain in advanced cancer were randomly divided into an observation group (34 cases, 4 cases dropped off) and a control group (32 cases, 2 cases dropped off). The two groups were treated with oral analgesics continuously for 4 weeks. The moderate pain patients was given bucinnazine hydrochloride tablets (starting at 30 mg, once every 6 hours, increasing by 30%-50% until the titration volume was reached), and the severe pain patients were given oxycodone hydrochloride sustained-release tablets (starting at 20 mg every 12 hours and increasing by 25%-50% until the titration volume was reached). The observation group was cooperated with filiform fire needling at ashi point, Zusanli (ST 36), Liangqiu (ST 34), Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan(CV 4), Quchi (LI 11) and Waiguan (TE 5) once every other day for 4 weeks. The changes of numerical rating scales (NRS) scores were observed in both groups before and after treatment, and the amount of analgesics and the incidence of adverse reactions were recorded. The clinical effects in the two groups were evaluated.
Results: The effective rate was 90.0% (27/30) in the observation group, which was higher than 66.7% (20/30) in the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the NRS scores of both groups were lower than those before treatment (P<0.05), and the reducing degree in the observation group was larger than that in the control group (P<0.05). The average dosage of bunarizine hydrochloride tablets and oxycodone hydrochloride sustained release tablets to titration volume in the observation group was less than that in the control group (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions was 23.3% (28/120) in the observation group, which was lower than 44.2% (53/120) in the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Filiform fire needling can alleviate pain symptoms of patients with moderate and severe pain in advanced cancer, reduce the amount of analgesics, and decrease the incidence of adverse reactions.
Keywords: advanced cancer; analgesia; filiform fire needling; numerical rating scales (NRS); pain.