*148

Adjunct antiemesis electroacupuncture in stem cell transplantation. J. Shen, N.S. Wenget, J.A. Glaspy, R.D. Hays, M. Elliott, C. Choi, P.G. Shekelle. University of California Los Angeles, School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA.

Despite aggressive antiemetic pharmacotherapy, nearly all patients receiving myeloablative chemotherapy experience severe nausea and vomiting. Previous studies suggest that acupuncture might reduce chemotherapy-induced emesis: however these studies are not methodologically rigorous.

We performed a randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of antiemetic acupuncture. Women undergoing stem cell transplant for breast cancer were randomly assigned to 3 groups: (1) 4 Hz electroacupuncture at classical antiemetic acupuncture points (P-6, ST-36) for 20 minutes daily between 7-8 am for 5 days; (2) non-specific acupuncture at control points with mock electro-stimulation on the same schedule; (3) no intervention.

All subjects received identical 4-day high dose chemotherapy and anitemetics according to protocol. We measured nurse recorded vomiting episodes, and patient ratings of nausea and global quality of life (QOL) using a previously validated symptom diary over the 5 day study period. Thirty of 32 consecutive eligible patients participated.

All subjects received the intended treatment and completed the study. No adverse events were observed as a result of the acupuncture procedure. Subjects were unable to recognize whether they received specific or the non-specific acupuncture intervention (p=.54).

The number of emesis episodes over 5 days was lower for subjects receiving specific acupuncture than subjects receiving non-specific acupuncture or no acupuncture (mean episodes=7, 13, 14, respectively; p=.02).

Nausea severity was lower for subjects receiving specific acupuncture, than subjects with non-specific acupuncture, and both of these groups were lower than subjects receiving no intervention (cumulative nausea score: 86, 184, 324, respectively; p=.02).

QOL reported by subjects receiving both specific and non-specific acupuncture was higher than reported by subjects receiving no intervention. These preliminary data suggest that antiemesis acupuncture may reduce high dose chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting.

Further study of this adjunct approach is merited to explore its specific and non-specific effects and their impact on patient' quality of life during intense chemotherapy.