Cross-Cultural Brain Activity Differences Between True and Sham Acupuncture for Xerostomia During Head and Neck Cancer Radiotherapy.

Background: A prior phase III, multicenter (United States and China), clinical trial found true acupuncture (TA) resulted in lower xerostomia scores 12 months after radiotherapy than that of a standard care control group. This small pilot study examined brain function changes comparing TA to sham acupuncture (SA) in US and Fudan patients undergoing head and neck radiotherapy.

Methods: To determine cerebral activity during TA versus SA acupuncture, patients underwent electroencephalogram evaluation (EEG) immediately prior, during and after both conditions.

The National Cancer Institute's Conference on Acupuncture for Symptom Management in Oncology: State of the Science, Evidence, and Research Gaps.

The Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) held a symposium on "Acupuncture for Cancer Symptom Management" on June 16 and 17, 2016. Invited speakers included 19 scientists and scholars with expertise in acupuncture and cancer research from the United States, Europe, and China. The conference reviewed the NCI's grant funding on acupuncture, analyzed the needs of cancer patients, reviewed safety issues, and assessed both the current scientific evidence and research gaps of acupuncture in oncology care.

Challenges to complementary and alternative medical research: focal issues influencing integration into a cancer care model.

Complementary and alternative therapies are increasingly used by cancer patients for palliative and postcancer preventive and/or wellness care. It is critical that evidence-based models be employed to both provide information for patients' use and informed consent and for physicians to advise patients and assess relative risk:benefit ratios of using specific complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches within the cancer care paradigm. Research models for biomedicine have been somewhat limited when applied to broader, more holistic conceptualizations of health common to many forms of CAM.

Integrating Chinese traditional medicine into a U.S. public health paradigm.

Chinese traditional medicine (CTM) is a health care system with an extensive history of practical clinical experience. The foundation of CTM, while relatively simple, is substantively different from much of allopathic medicine. Such differences are difficult to explain using a Western medical vocabulary, and extend beyond linguistic foundations.

Complementary and alternative medicine in mainstream public health: a role for research in fostering integration.

In light of the increased utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in recent years, there is an increased possibility that CAM approaches could prove to be important factors in public health, particularly if used within an integrative framework together with mainstream medicine. There exists a defined need for research to explore the integration of conventional health care and CAM approaches, as well as define mechanisms of CAM-based therapies to facilitate such integration. Essential to these goals is the accumulation of a database derived from outcomes-based clinical and basic science investigations.