Pharmacopuncture for Cancer Care: A Systematic Review

Table 3

Characteristics of the Included Studies: Ileus, Hiccup, Fever, QOL, Gastrointestinal Symptoms.

Author	Sample Size (M/F); Cancer Type	Intervention (𝑛)	Control (𝑛)	Outcome Measures	Result
					Intervention	Control
Ileus
Chen et al. 2010 [31]	120 (96/24); Rectal cancer	Neostigmine injection (0.5 mL) at bilateral ST36 (𝑛=60); bid; Routine post-operative therapy	Routine post-operative therapy (𝑛=60)	Time that the patient first passed a bowel movement (h, mean ± SD)	45.1 ± 8.6*	74.7 ± 16.3
Feng et al. 2007 [32]	160 (92/68); Colon cancer	Vit. B1 injection (50 mg) at bilateral ST36 (𝑛=80); on the day of surgery	Vit. B1 (100 mg), IM (𝑛 = 80); on the day of surgery	Time that the patient first passed a bowel movement (h, mean ± SD)	29.6 ± 3.2	48.1 ± 5.3
Hiccup
Sui and Zhang 2009 [33]	47 (31/16); Various	Anisodamine injection (10 mg) at ST36 (𝑛=25); bid	Anisodamine (10 mg), IM (𝑛 = 22); bid	Responder rate (%)	76%*	36.4%
Xia et al. 2000 [34]	32 (20/12); Various	Atropine injection (1.25 mg) at bilateral ST36, Vit. B1 (10 mg), B12 (10 mg) at bilateral BL17 (𝑛=16)	Atropine po (0.3 mg), tid or IM (0.5 mg) (𝑛=16)	Responder rate (%)	93.8%	68.8%
Fever
Yan et al. 1999 [35]	28 (21/7); Various	rIL-2 injection (50,000 𝜇/2 mL) at ST36 (𝑛=14); qd	rIL-2 (100,000 𝜇/2 mL), IM (𝑛=14); qd	Responder rate (%)	85.7%*	50%
Yan et al. 1997 [36]	58 (43/15); Upper GI cancer	Dexamethasone injection (1 mL) alternately at bilateral ST36 (𝑛=28); qd	Dexamethasone (10 mg), IM (𝑛 = 30); tid	Responder rate (%)	89.3%**	56.7%
QOL
Xue 2005 [37]	108 (78/30); Various	Huangqi injection (2 mL) alternately at bilateral ST36 (𝑛=60); qd	Energy synbiotics, IV (𝑛 = 48); qd; Lipid and albumin, twice a week	Responder rate (%, Karnofsky score)	50%**	25%
GI Symptoms
Zhao et al. 2008 [38]	30 (11/19); Various	Metoclopramide injection (10 mg) at bilateral ST36 (𝑛=15); qd; Routine chemotherapy	Metoclopramide (10 mg), IM (𝑛=15); qd; Routine chemotherapy	WHO grade [30] 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 (number of patients)	Grade 0: 1; Grade 1: 6; Grade 2: 8; Grade 3: 0; Grade 4: 0	Grade 0: 0; Grade 1: 4; Grade 2: 9; Grade 3: 2; Grade 4: 0

Abbreviation: AEs: adverse events; bid: twice a day; GI: gastrointestinal; h: hour(s); IM: intramuscular injection; IV: intravenous injection; min: minute(s); NR: not reported; po: orally; qd: everyday; QOL: quality of life; rIL-2: recombinant human interleukin-2; SD: standard deviation; tid: three times a day; Vit.: vitamin; WHO: World Health Organization.
Acupuncture point ST36 refers to 36th point of stomach meridian and extra points have different nomenclature (e.g., Ex-UE7 means 7th extra point in upper extremity).
Responder rate: (number of participants with any improvement from the intervention/total number of participants) * 100(%) unless stated otherwise.
* 𝑃<0.05; **𝑃<0.01.