Acupuncture for treating hot flushes in men with prostate cancer: a systematic review.
OBJECTIVE
The goal of the study was to assess the effects of acupuncture as a treatment for hot flushes in prostate cancer (PC) patients.


METHODS
The literature was searched using 14 databases with dates ranging from their inceptions to December 2008 and without language restrictions. All clinical studies of any type of acupuncture in PC patients were included. Their main outcome measures had to be vasomotor symptoms. Their methodological quality was assessed using the modified Jadad score.


RESULTS
Six studies met all the inclusion criteria. One randomised clinical trial compared the effects of manual acupuncture with acupuncture plus electro-acupuncture. The other five studies were uncontrolled observational studies and therefore had limitations.


CONCLUSIONS
The evidence is not convincing to suggest acupuncture is an effective treatment for hot flush in patients with PC. Further research is required to investigate whether acupuncture has hot-flush-specific effects.
Lee
Myeong Soo
MS
Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, 305-811, South Korea. drmslee@gmail.com
Kim
Kun-Hyung
KH
Shin
Byung-Cheul
BC
Choi
Sun-Mi
SM
Ernst
Edzard
E
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000379:methods; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*