Doctors continue to get on board with acupuncture

For the first time, the ACCP lung cancer guidelines have included recommendations on mind-body modalities as part of a multimodality approach to reduce the anxiety, mood disturbances, and chronic pain associated with lung cancer.Massage therapy is recommended for patients who are experiencing anxiety or pain, while acupuncture is recommended for patients experiencing fatigue, dyspnea, chemo-induced neuropathy, or in cases where pain or nausea/vomiting is poorly controlled.Electrostimulation wristbands are not recommended for managing chemo-induced nausea/vomiting, as studies show that they do little to delay nausea/vomiting compared with placebo.The recommendations were rigorously developed and reviewed by 100 multidisciplinary panel members, including pulmonologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, thoracic surgeons, integrative medicine specialists, oncology nurses, pathologists, health-care researchers, and epidemiologists. The guidelines were further reviewed and approved by the ACCP Thoracic Oncology NetWork, the Health and Science Policy Committee, the Board of Regents, and external reviewers from the journal Chest.The guidelines have been endorsed by the American Association for Bronchology, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Asian Pacific Society of Respirology, Oncology Nurses Society, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and the World Association of Bronchology.