[Efficacy of acupuncture in treatment of cancer pain: a systematic review].

Background: Although acupuncture is a well-established treatment for cancer pain and its effects have been widely reported in recent two decades, there is still controversy over whether its efficacy is better than placebo.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture therapy on cancer pain.

Search Strategy: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, Issue 3, 2008), EMBASE, PubMed, ScienceDirect database, Current Controlled Trials, Chongqin VIP database and CNKI database were searched, and the search date ended in June 2008.

Mechanisms of treatment of cancer pain with a topical Chinese herbal formula in rats.

Background: Pain has a substantial impact on patients' activities and overall quality of life, but current conventional drugs have debilitating side effects, including gastrointestinal disorders. Thus there is a pressing need for new therapies with fewer side effects to alleviate cancer pain. We recently developed a topical herbal formula Xiaotan Tongluo analgesic gel (XTTL gel) based on the principles of traditional Chinese herbalism, and we have received positive feedback from bone cancer pain patients.

Study on analgesic effect of traditional Chinese medicine.

Chinese medicine has been used in treating pain for a long time. Much progress has been made in studies on the mechanism of the analgesic effect of Chinese medicine in animal experiments. It is found that the analgesic action may be related to the following actions: (1) Reducing the secretion of peripheral algogenic substances and inducing the secretion of pain-sensitive substances; (2) Alleviating the accumulation of local algogenic substances; (3) Increasing the release of endogenous analgesic substances; (4) Regulating c-fos gene and increasing the secretion of such substances in the central nervous system, etc.