Acute Analgesic Effect of Electroacupuncture on a Cancer Pain in a Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient : a Case Report

Abstract

We report a female small cell lung cancer patient in the extensive stage(T3N3Mx). After 6 cycles of chemotherapy combined radiation therapy, she received inpatient Korean medical care including herbal medicine, acupuncture therapy and concurrent western oral medications of opioid analgesics and anti-anxiety agent. The chief complaint was right side thoracic wall pain which had started after chemotherapy and was not effectively controlled by analgesics. For this condition, we treated her with 2Hz of constant electrical stimulation on Jiaji (Ex-B2) points T5-T7 laterally (right) using three needles for 20 minutes once a day for 9 days. With every session of electrical acupuncture treatment, thoracic pain decreased acutely. Korean medicine treatments including Jiaji (Ex-B2) point stimulation might be tried for lung cancer patients with uncontrolled thoracic pain at least for the acute analgesic effect.