Through clinical practice and literature analysis, the effectiveness and feasibility of acupuncture and moxibustion for "chemo brain" (chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment, CICI) are explored, which provides a theoretical basis of acupuncture and moxibustion for "chemotherapy brain". From the point view of TCM, CICI is classified as amnesia-like disease. The location of disease is in brain and it is most closely related to heart and kidney. The pathogenesis is the deficiency of kidney and marrow, often accompanied with stagnation of qi due to depression of liver. It is deficient in root and excessive in superficial. From the point view of modern research, CICI is a cognitive dysfunction disease, which is closely related to the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Acupuncture can play a neuroprotective role by regulating various mechanisms to improve cognitive dysfunction. The acupuncture prescriptions should focus on regulating liver and nourishing kidney, accompanied with head acupoints to improve brain and intelligence. The electroacupuncture can be applied. Acupuncture has a rich theoretical basis in the treatment of CICI, but there is a lack of research in this area.
Keywords: acupuncture; chemo brain (CICI); cognitive dysfunction; theory.