MedWire News: UK researchers are launching a study to see whether women with breast cancer benefit from acupuncture to relieve severe fatigue, which is a major side effect of cancer treatment.

The charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, which is funding the study, says that more than 60% of breast cancer patients use complementary therapies to help reduce the side effects of cancer treatment, such as fatigue, nausea and hot flushes.

But the charity adds that there is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of complementary therapies for treating such symptoms, or whether they are safe to use alongside cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Professor Alex Molassiotis and team from the University of Manchester will study 320 breast cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy within the past 5 years and who suffer from high levels of fatigue.

The women will receive either six sessions of acupuncture over a 6-week period or no acupuncture. Participants in the acupuncture group will then receive weekly acupuncture by a therapist, undertake self acupuncture or receive no acupuncture for a further 4 weeks.

The participants' fatigue levels will be monitored throughout the course of the 3-year study.

Professor Alex Molassiotis said: "Acupuncture is one of the more established complementary therapies and studies suggest that it is safe in the hands of a competent practitioner. Other studies have shown that acupuncture may help ease nausea caused by chemotherapy and certain types of pain. Now we want to find out whether there is an added benefit of reducing levels of cancer-related fatigue, which can be debilitating and distressing and often mistaken for depression.

"The results of this research could improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients and add to the limited treatment choices for managing cancer related fatigue."

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, added: "There is a real need to understand more about the effectiveness and safety of complementary therapies such as acupuncture in cancer patients."