Acupuncture Therapies for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting in Patients With Breast Cancer: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Can Acupuncture Help With Nausea During Breast Cancer Treatment?

If you're undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, you know how debilitating nausea and vomiting can be. These side effects — known as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, or CINV — can seriously disrupt daily life, affect nutrition, and make an already difficult treatment journey even harder. Many patients are looking for safe, natural ways to find relief alongside their conventional medications.

Acupuncture has been used for centuries to ease nausea, and a growing number of clinical studies suggest it may genuinely help cancer patients during chemotherapy. However, there are many different types of acupuncture — including traditional needle acupuncture, electroacupuncture, acupressure, and auricular (ear) acupuncture — and until now, it hasn't been clear which approach works best.

A team of researchers is conducting a major study to answer exactly that question. They are performing what's called a systematic review and network meta-analysis, which means they will gather and compare results from dozens of clinical trials all at once. They plan to search eight large medical databases across both English and Chinese medical literature, looking at studies published up through July 2025.

The researchers will measure how well each type of acupuncture reduces nausea severity, how effective treatments are overall, whether symptoms come back, and how acupuncture affects patients' quality of life. They will also carefully evaluate the safety of each approach.

The final results are expected by late 2026. When complete, this research should give patients and their oncology teams much clearer guidance about which acupuncture method offers the most benefit for chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting.

If you are interested in exploring acupuncture during breast cancer treatment, speak with your oncologist and seek a licensed acupuncturist with experience working with cancer patients.

This registered protocol outlines a systematic review and network meta-analysis designed to compare the relative efficacy and safety of distinct acupuncture modalities — including manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture, acupressure, and auricular acupuncture — for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in breast cancer patients. Eight databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and others) will be searched through July 2025, with no sample size restrictions noted at this stage. Primary outcomes include CINV intensity and clinical effectiveness rates; secondary outcomes encompass recurrence rates, quality of life, and safety. Methodology employs Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo network meta-analysis in R, pairwise meta-analysis via random-effects models in Stata, node-splitting for consistency evaluation, and GRADE for evidence certainty. Heterogeneity, small-study effects, and convergence will be rigorously assessed. Results are anticipated by December 2026. Clinicians should monitor this publication as it is expected to provide comparative effectiveness rankings across acupuncture interventions to guide integrative oncology practice.