Estimulação do ponto de acupuntura PC6 como tratamento complementar de efeitos colaterais da quimioterapia: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

The World Health Organization reports that 40 million cancer deaths were recorded in 2015, accounting for 70% of all deaths in the world. Cancer is a chronic disease, responsible for reduced quality of life, withdrawal from work, depression, anxiety and other complications. One of the most used treatments is chemotherapy, which brings adverse effects such as nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, abdominal pain, reflux, diarrhea and constipation. The most common symptom in these patients is nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy (NIV). NIV may be classified as acute, late or anticipatory. Acupuncture has been increasingly used as a complementary therapy to treat symptoms arising from cancer treatment. The acupuncture point pericardium 6 (PC6), or Neiguan, is the most used point for controlling the symptoms of nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy. This systematic review sought to verify that PC6 Neiguan stimulation protocol is more effective in the control of nausea and vomiting, with acute or late onset, in patients undergoing chemotherapy. For this, databases were searched, and articles were sorted. As results it is found that greater times of stimulation and combination of points that treat nausea and vomiting, pain, anxiety, insomnia and other symptoms are more effective.