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2010 - The Journal of Clinical Oncology published the results of a study which showed that acupuncture helped relieve pain and stiffness in breast cancer patients who were being treated with hormone therapies. Acupuncture has always been great for pain; chemo patients are one specific group who benefit.2010 - A study published in the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism found that electro-acupuncture treatments led to more regular menstrual cycles and reduced testosterone levels in women who had PCOS. In my Chicago acupuncture practice I find PCOS responds very well to TCM treatment.
2011- A Yale University/University of Pittsburgh study of women with hot flashes brought on by conventional breast cancer treatment showed that women who received acupuncture had a 30% reduction in hot flashes.
2012 - A Chinese study reported that acupuncture was more effective than Clomifene (better known as Clomid) for the treatment of infertility. It was a small study, using 65 women who were infertile because of problems with ovulation. They were divided into two groups. One group received acupuncture treatment and the other group took the drug Clomid. After 6 months, the acupuncture group had a cure rate of 76.3% while the group that took the conventional drugs had a cure rate of 48.1%.
2013 - Researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology in Sweden published the results of a new study in the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism. Their study included thirty-two women with PCOS who were randomly chosen to receive either acupuncture with electrical stimulation or physical therapy. Researchers found that the acupuncture group had significantly reduced ovarian and adrenal sex steroid serum levels. They also concluded that repeated acupuncture treatments resulted in a higher ovulation frequency and was more effective than just physical therapy.
Sources
1) Impact of electro-acupuncture and physical exercise on hyperandrogenism and oligo/amenorrhea in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized controlled trial Elizabeth Jedel , Fernand Labrie , Anders Odén , Göran Holm , Lars Nilsson , Per Olof Janson , Anna-Karin Lind , Claes Ohlsson , Elisabet Stener-Victorin American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and MetabolismPublished 1 January 2011Vol. 300no. E37-E45DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00495.2010
2) Randomized, blinded, sham-controlled trial of acupuncture for the management of aromatase inhibitor-associated joint symptoms in women with early-stage breast cancer. Crew KD, Capodice JL, Greenlee H, Brafman L, Fuentes D, Awad D, Yann Tsai W, Hershman DL. J Clin Oncol. 2010 Mar 1;28(7):1154-60. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2009.23.4708. Epub 2010 Jan 25.
3) Menopausal Symptom Management With Acupuncture For Women With Breast Cancer. Cohen SM, Rousseau ME, Berg JA, Jolivet R, Dixon L, Vulte J, et al. WebmedCentral ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE 2011;2(2):WMC001544
4) The Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science, 2012, 10(2), R246.3. Teng Hui, Liu Yu-lei, Wang Jun-ling, Xie Ying. Dept. of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital, Guangdong, China.
5) Acupuncture for ovulation induction in polycystic ovary syndrome: A randomized controlled trial. Johansson, Julia, et al. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology And Metabolism (2013).