Efficacy of Contact Needle Therapy for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy

open access

Abstract

Cancer chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) often results in discontinuation of treatment with potentially useful anticancer drugs and may deteriorate the patient’s quality of life. This study investigated the effect of contact needle therapy (CNT) on CIPN caused by responsible chemotherapeutic agents as taxanes and oxaliplatin. Six patients with CIPN were treated with CNT. The severity of CIPN was evaluated using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4 and FACT/GOG-Ntx before and after CNT. After the treatment, all of the patients showed some improvement. Four patients showed apparent improvement in breakthrough pain. One of the cases had difficulty in walking because of CIPN in lower extremities, but after 2 times of CNT, he could walk without pain and could continue the chemotherapy.
Although its putative mechanisms remain elusive, CNT has strong potential as an adjunctive therapy in CIPN. Well-designed clinical trials with adequate sample size and power are necessary to confirm the findings of this study.


Introduction

With the increasing numbers of patients with cancer and cancer survivors and the development of multidisciplinary cancer therapy, treatment that considers the quality of life (QOL) of patients together with prognostic improvement is demanded. Multidisciplinary cancer therapy consists of surgical treatment, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy often causes side effects such as myelosuppression, digestive symptoms, renal failure, or peripheral neuropathy. Cancer chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is one of the most serious problems in clinical practice, and it sometimes results in the discontinuation of subsequent treatment [1, 2]. CIPN is well known in taxanes, platinum analogues, vinca alkaloids, and molecular target drugs such as bortezomib [3]. Neuropathy by taxanes stems from damage to microtubules of the neuraxis, mainly developing from gloves-and-socks type sensory disturbance [4]. Platinum analogues such as cisplatin and oxaliplatin damage nerve cells directly, followed by damage to the neuraxis [5].......