Acupressure for nausea following chemotherapy - Oncol Nurs Forum 2000 Jan-Feb;27(1):41-7. Acupressure for nausea: results of a pilot study.Dibble SL, Chapman J, Mack KA, Shih AS © The Internet Health Library 2000

Acupressure may offer breast cancer patients help in alleviating the nausea caused by chemotherapy according to a report from the Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, USA.

The researchers at the Institute recorded differences in nausea frequency and intensity in women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer between those patients who received standard care and those who received standard care together with acupressure treatment.

All of the women were attending an outpatient oncology clinic in a major teaching medical center and a private outpatient oncology practice. In all, seventeen women agreed to participate in the study. The typical participant was 49.5 years old (SD = 6.0), Caucasian (59%), not married/partnered (76%), on disability (53%), born a U.S. citizen (76%), and heterosexual (88%); lived alone (59%); had at least graduated from high school (100%); and had an annual personal income of $50,000 or greater (65%).

The acupressure treatment given involved finger acupressure bilaterally at the acupressure points P6 and ST36, which are located on the forearm and by the knee. Baseline and poststudy questionnaires plus a daily log were used to collect data. Nausea experience was measured by the Rhodes inventory of Nausea, Vomiting, and Retching and nausea intensity.

The results revealed significant differences between the women who received acupressure treatment and those who didn't. Within the first 10 days of the chemotherapy cycle, the women who received acupressure treatment had reported less intensity and experience of nausea.

The researchers concluded that finger acupressure may decrease nausea among women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. However, as this was a relatively small-scale study, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions and the report recommends a larger study would be warranted to explore the possibility of including acupressure treatments in cancer clinics on a large scale.