Electroacupuncture Versus Analgesics for Patients with Stage IIIB Cervical Cancer Post Cisplatin Chemotherapy

The prevalence of pain at advanced cervical cancer stages is increasing. Existing World Health Organization recommendations for management comprises a 3-step ladder of analgesic therapy but this still cannot address this pain optimally. An alternative therapy used to reduce pain, acupuncture, is almost without side-effects, is safe, and is easy to implement. This study compared electroacupuncture (EA) versus paracetamol 500 mg +10-mg codeine therapy for patients with stage-IIIB cervical cancer post cisplatin chemotherapy. Participants were divided into 2 groups (treatment and control groups). A quasiexperimental study was conducted using a nonequivalent control group pretest-post-test design. Participants in the treatment group were given EA for 30 minutes 10 times over 3 weeks, while participants in the control group were given paracetamol 3 × 500 mg and codeine 3 × 10 mg orally every day for 3 weeks. Statistical analysis used paired -tests, a Wilcoxon test, an independent -test, or a Mann-Whitney- test with  < 0.05. Pretest and post-test pain-scale levels were 5.39 ± 0.62 and 4.57 ± 0.88, respectively ( < 0.001). Average endorphin-β levels at pretest and post-test were 571.80 ± 281.13 and 491.14 ± 272.14, respectively ( = 0.818). Median values of quality of life at pretest and post-test were 681.75 (range: 503.80-915.20) and 635.25 (range: 538.20-781.20;  = 0.383), respectively. Pain-control therapy using drugs or EA produces similar results. However, EA, subjectively, produces improved pain-scale results better than pharmaceuticals.