Abstract

The impact of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting on the quality of life of ovarian cancer patients is well known. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of acupuncture plus vitamin B₆ PC6 points injection with acupuncture or vitamin B₆ alone in controlling emesis of 142 patients undergoing a highly emetogenic chemotherapy regimen between March 1, 2006, and June 30, 2008. The patients were divided into 3 groups randomly and were given different antiemesis treatments accordingly. All patients received the same concurrent antiemetic pharmacotherapy and high-dose chemotherapy. We compared the total number of emesis episodes and the proportion of emesis-free days among the 3 groups during the study period. The acupuncture plus vitamin B₆ PC6 points injection group had significantly fewer emesis episodes and a greater proportion of emesis-free days than the acupuncture group or the vitamin B₆ alone group. We conclude that acupuncture plus vitamin B₆ PC6 point injection is a quite useful method against emesis in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.