Presentation summary

Background :
Acupuncture is a supportive care that may reduce adverse effects (AEs) of patients undergoing anticancer treatment (ACT). We aimed at assessing the knowledge, interest, access issues, and clinical outcomes relatedto acupuncture of solid cancer patients undergoing ACT

Methods :
Between February and April 2024, we included prospectively all solid cancer outpatients undergoing ACT inthese departments of oncology: Mondor Teaching Hospital (Créteil), Polyclinique Maymar (Bastia) andAmethys (La Garenne-Colombes). Each patient completed a questionnaire regarding the following items: ACT-related AE profile, use of complementary therapy, access and interest in acupuncture.

Results :
The cohort included 192 pts, 59% of whom were women; 46%, 30% and 11% had a digestive, breast orurological cancer, respectively; 91% underwent chemotherapy; 48% reported nausea or vomiting, 44%peripheral neuropathy, 69% asthenia (any grade). Among the overall population, 25 patients had alreadyexperienced acupuncture including 24 patients for ACT-related AE, with a mean total number of sessions of 6.3 (min-max 1-20). Among acupuncture users, 21% of patients reported a reduction in nausea/vomiting, 21% inperipheral neuropathy, 21% in asthenia, and 25% reported a quality-of-life improvement. Also, 82% of patients had not experienced acupuncture ever for the following reasons: lack of awareness of acupuncture benefitsduring ACT (51%), difficulty finding an acupuncturist (10%), lack of reimbursement (7%), doubts about efficacy(5%).

Conclusion :
Our cohort suggested that the lack of use of acupuncture as supportive care was mainly related to a lack ofinformation about its potential clinical benefits and access issues.