A pilot study of acupuncture in treating bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy in patients with multiple myeloma.

BackgroundPeripheral neuropathy is the dose limiting toxicity of bortezomib in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).ObjectivesTo examine the safety, feasibility and efficacy of acupuncture in reducing bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy (BIPN) symptoms.MethodsPatients with MM experiencing persistent BIPN ≥grade 2 despite adequate medical intervention and discontinuation of bortezomib received 10 acupuncture treatments for 10 weeks (2×/week for 2 weeks, 1×/week for 4 weeks, and then biweekly for 4 weeks). Responses were assessed by the Clinical Total Neuropathy Score (TNSc), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity (FACT/GOG-Ntx) questionnaire, and the Neuropathy Pain Scale (NPS). Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to test for monotonic decline in scores on each of the measures. Serial serum levels of proinflammatory and neurotrophic cytokines were obtained at baseline and weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, and 14.ResultsTwenty-seven patients with MM were enrolled in the trial. There were no adverse events associated with the acupuncture treatments. TNSc data were deemed invalid and therefore were not reported. At weeks 10 and 14, FACT/GOG-Ntx and NPS showed significant reduction suggesting decreased pain, and improved function (P values were ConclusionsAcupuncture is safe, feasible and produces subjective improvements in patients' symptoms. A follow-up randomized controlled trial is warranted.